x^ 


.H57S 


THE    PENTATEUCH 


€exU(§oo&z  of  (geftgioug  3n0f ruction. 


EDITED   BY  THE 


REV.  EDWARD  L.  CUTTS,  D.D. 

AUTHOR   OF   "turning   POINTS   OF   ENGLISH   CHURCH   HISTORY,' 
ETC.    ETC. 


Crown  8vo. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

By  the  Rev.  Edward  L.  Cutts,  D.D.,  Editor  of 
the  Series. 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST.  MARK.  By  the  Hon.  and 
Rev.  E.  Lyttelton,  M.A.,  Head-Master  of  Hailey- 
bury  College. 

THE  PENTATEUCH.  By  the  late  Lord  A.  C. 
Hervey,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  Com- 
pleted by  the  Rev.  C.  Hole. 

Other  Volumes  to  follow. 


NEW  YORK:  LONGMANS,  GREEN,  &=  CO. 


Ce;rt^(J0ooft6  of  (JS'tdziouB  3ttBtruction 


THE    PENTATEUCH 


y 

BY   THE   LATE  ^^       H^V^Ve^ 

LORD  BISHOP  OF  BATH  AND  WELLS 


AND  THE 

REV.  C.  HOLE 


NEW  YORK 

LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO. 

AND   LONDON 

1895 

A/!    rights    reserved. 


PREFATORY    NOTE 

The  late  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  took  great  interest 
in  the  projected  series  of  Text-books  of  Religious 
Instruction,  and  consented  to  write  the  volume  on 
the  Pentateuch.  Having  finished  Genesis  and  Exodus, 
he  was  advised,  on  the  ground  of  failing  health,  to 
spare  himself  this  addition  to  his  other  work,  and 
the  Rev.  Charles  Hole  undertook  tlie  completion  of 
the  volume. 

In  order  that  this  volume  may  be  of  the  utmost  use 
to  the  student,  he  should  first  read  over  the  portion  of 
Scripture  to  be  considered ;  then  read  it  again  with 
the  notes;  look  out  and  carefully  consider  the  illus- 
trative texts  referred  to.  In  many  cases  the  notes 
contain  brief  hints  and  suggestions  intended  to  start 
the  student  on  lines  of  independent  thought. 


CONTENTS 


Genesis  . 

Exodus  . 

Leviticus 

Numbers 

Deuteronomy 

Index 

Map 


I 

83 
129 

165 
203 

233 
178 


THE    PENTATEUCH 


HOLY   SCRIPTURE 

Scripture,  rj  ypacf)/],  is  the  name  by  which  we  designate 
that  collection  of  writings  which  stand  on  a  different  foot- 
ing from  any  other  writings  in  the  world,  because  they  are 
deoTTvevcTTOL,  "  inspired  of  God,"  or,  as  the  word  is  rendered 
in  the  Authorised  Version,  "given  by  inspiration  of  God"  (2 
Tim.  iii.  16).  Speaking  of  the  Old  Testament  only,  we  know 
for  certain  which  are  the  books  to  which  this  peculiar,  this 
sacred  character  belongs  ;  because  the  Canon,  as  it  is  called, 
of  Holy  Scripture  is  identically  the  same  to-day  as  it  was  in 
the  days  of  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles,  and  they  always 
speak  of  Holy  Scripture  as  possessing  a  Divine  authority. 
To  quote  but  one  of  many  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  Christ, 
He  says  :  "The  Scripture  cannot  be  broken"  (John  x.  35)  ; 
and  He  quotes  it  with  the  distinctive  formula,  "  It  is  written" 
(Matt.  iv.  4,  9,  10,  &c.)  ;  and  the  Apostles  everywhere  refer 
to  the  same  Holy  Scriptures  as  an  authority  from  which 
there  is  no  appeal. 

The  books  contained  in  the  Canon  were  divided  by  the 
Jews  into  three  portions — the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Hagiographa  ;  a  division  acknowledged  by  our  Lord,  who 
in  Luke  xxiv.  44  speaks  of  "the  Law  and  the  Prophets 
and  the  Psalms,"  the  Psalms  being  the  chief  book  com- 
prised in  the  Hagiographa.  Of  these  the  "  Law"  comprised 
the  five  Books  of  Moses,  commonly  called  the  Pentateuch  ; 
the  "  Prophets "  comprised,  besides  what  we  commonly 
mean  by  the  Prophets,  the  historical  books,  because  they 
were  justly  considered  as  having  been  under  the  special 

1^  S.  T.  A 


2  THE  PENTATEUCH 

care  and  direction  of  the  Prophets  from  age  to  age  ;  the 
Hagiographa  comprised  all  the  other  books  which  were  not 
included  in  either  of  the  previous  portions.  This  collection, 
in  its  historical  part,  embraces  outlines  of  the  history  of 
mankind  from  the  Creation  to  about  B.C.  400,  together  with 
a  full  history  of  the  Israelitish  people,  detailed  biographies 
of  certain  representative  men,  and  copious  accounts  of  a 
few  leading  events ;  and  in  its  other  portions  contains 
original  poems,  oratorical  addresses,  and  ethical  treatises, 
composed  in  various  ages,  separated  from  one  another  by 
many  hundreds  of  years  ;  and  yet  it  possesses  the  truly 
marvellous  feature  of  a  perfect  unity  of  teaching  through- 
out. Patriarchs  in  the  remotest  ages,  poets  of  all  ranks 
from  kings  to  herdsmen,  the  great  law-giver  of  the  Hebrew 
people,  warriors  and  statesmen,  prophets  and  priests,  all 
concur  in  identical  views  of  Almighty  God,  of  His  govern- 
ment of  the  world,  and  of  the  duty  of  men  to  God  and  to 
one  another.  And  not  only  so,  but  the  views  of  the  char- 
acter of  God  and  of  the  proper  attitude  of  the  mind  of  man 
towards  God,  which  is  given  in  these  various  writings,  have 
that  simplicity  and  sublimity,  and  breadth  and  height,  which 
are  worthy  of  the  Almighty  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  have  never  been  surpassed  by  all  the  wisdom  and 
culture  of  succeeding  ages.  At  the  close  of  this  nineteenth 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  when  we  would  speak  worthily 
of  God's  glory,  or  approach  Him  in  suitable  words  of  adora- 
tion, supplication,  or  praise,  the  language  of  Moses,  David, 
or  Isaiah  is  the  most  suitable  which  we  can  find. 

But  besides  this  feature  of  Holy  Scripture  it  is  worthy  of 
preliminary  remark  that  in  its  long  course  of  history  not  one 
single  historical  blunder  has  ever  been  detected  by  the  keen 
eye  of  criticism  or  of  unbelief.  Epochs  upon  which  no  his- 
torical light,  except  that  of  the  Old  Testament,  had  shined 
fifty  years  ago,  have,  by  the  discoveries  made  since  then 
from  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  and  Assyrian  cuneiform  in- 
scriptions, come  into  the  light  of  history,  and  in  every 
instance  the  Biblical  statements  have  been  signally  con- 
firmed.    Whole  nations,  of  whose  existence  profane  history 


HOLY  SCRIPTURE  3 

knew  nothing,  but  to  whom  passing  allusions  were  made 
in  Scripture,  such  as  Hittites,  Elamites,  the  first  Assyrian 
empire,  t&c,  have  had  their  early  history  revealed  and  the 
Scripture  allusions  fully  justified.  The  enlarged  knowledge 
of  Egyptian  history,  manners,  customs,  topography,  and 
the  like,  which  recently  deciphered  papyri  and  inscriptions 
have  afforded,  has  shown  more  clearly  than  ever  before  the 
accuracy  of  the  Scriptural  accounts  of  the  sojourn  of  the 
Israelites  in  Egypt.  Even  in  the  domain  of  science  where 
the  Scriptures  incidentally  touch  it,  be  it  astronomy,  or  be 
it  geology,  they  have  never  been  convicted  of  error.  With 
these  characteristics  agreed  the  unique  position  of  the  Bible 
as  compared  with  all  the  literatures  of  the  whole  world.  No 
other  book  has  swayed  the  whole  civilised  world  as  for  the 
last  eighteen  centuries  the  Bible  has  done.  No  other  book 
has  been  translated  into  near  three  hundred  languages,  and 
speaks  with  a  voice  of  authority  wherever  it  is  read.  No 
other  book  has  inspired  and  directed  the  opinions  and 
actions  of  the  wisest  and  holiest  men  whom  the  world  has 
ever  seen  as  the  Bible  has  done. 

Evidently  these  writings  of  such  a  character,  which  are 
the  channels  for  communicating  to  the  mind  of  man  such 
human  and  divine  knowledge,  ought  to  be  studied  and  well 
known  by  every  man  desirous  of  receiving  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. The  following  pages  are  intended  to  give  such  help 
as  is  in  the  writei*'s  power  towards  understanding  that  por- 
tion of  Holy  Scripture  which  comprises  the  first  two  Books 
of  Moses  and  is  commonly  called  the  Pentateuch. 


GENESIS 


Chaps,  i.-ii.  3. — The  Creation. 

The  first  act  of  that  great  drama,  the  development  of 
which  was  to  fill  the  pages  of  Scripture,  was  the  act  of 
creation.  Man,  whether  he  lives  in  the  far  East,  or  in  the 
lands  of  the  setting  sun,  whether  he  belongs  to  one  of  the 
ruling  races  of  mankind  or  to  one  not  yet  emerged  from 
the  condition  of  savages,  finds  himself  an  inhabitant  of  this 
planet  which  is  called  the  earth.  Bom,  endowed  with  life, 
and  with  the  various  faculties  of  mind  and  body  which  con- 
stitute a  man  ;  surrounded  by  animals  subject  to  him,  and 
contributing  in  various  ways  to  his  wants  and  comforts — the 
camel,  the  horse,  the  ox,  the  sheep,  the  dog,  and  so  on ; 
seeing  the  earth  under  his  feet  producing  corn,  and  wine, 
and  grass,  and  vegetables,  and  trees,  and  flowers,  to  minister 
to  his  necessities  or  to  his  pleasure  ;  lifting  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  and  seeing  the  glorious  sun  filling  the  sky  with 
light,  and  pouring  warmth  and  joy  on  the  face  of  the  whole 
world,  or  looking  up  at  night  and  seeing  the  moon  and  the 
countless  stars  speaking  out  of  infinite  space,  and  telling 
him  that  his  little  earth  is  but  a  speck  in  a  boundless 
universe — he  asks.  How  came  I  here  ?  and  who  constructed 
this  glorious  mechanism,  and  arranged  this  wondrous  order 
of  things  which  I  feel  within  me,  and  which  I  see  around  me  ? 

And  this  first  chapter  of  Genesis  gives  the  God-sent 
answer. 

I.  There  was  a  time  when  this  wondrous  scheme  of  nature 
was  not.  But  God  was.  "In  the  beginning,"  before  the  sun 
and  moon  and  stars  were  brought  into  existence,  there  was 

4 


GENESIS  5 

a  Being,  invisible  but  infinite  in  power,  unsearchable  in 
wisdom,  of  perfect  goodness,  whose  name  is  God.  He  spake 
the  word,  and  all  that  is  seen  in  heaven  above  and  in  the 
earth  beneath  was  created  and  made.  But  not  at  once  did 
they  assume  their  destined  completeness.  Through  six 
great  periods  of  time,  each  of  unknown  length,  did  this 
creative  energy  pursue  its  mighty  work.  First  light  shone 
upon  the  confused  and  shapeless  mass.  Then  the  spacious 
firmament  enfolded  the  new-made  earth.  Then  the  mul- 
titudinous waters  beneath  the  firmament  were  gathered  into 
oceans  and  seas,  and  the  diy  land  appeared.  Nor  did  it 
long  continue  naked.  A  beauteous  verdure  clothed  the 
mountain  side  and  the  plain  beneath.  The  green  grass 
carpeted  the  ground,  the  various  herbs  sprang  up  with  their 
blossoms  and  their  seeds  to  perpetuate  their  race  through 
ten  thousand  thousand  generations.  The  fruit-tree  stretched 
out  its  branches  laden  with  precious  fruit. 

But  the  earth,  so  to  speak,  was  not  sufficient  to  itself.  It 
was  not  a  solitary  thing,  it  was  a  member  of  a  great  family 
which  filled  the  boundless  space  around  it,  and  depended 
upon  those  other  bodies  for  its  supplies  of  light  and  heat. 
The  sun  was  set  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  moon  to  give  light 
by  night.  By  the  mysterious  power  of  gravitation  the  suc- 
cession of  seed-time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and 
summer  and  winter,  and  day  and  night,  were  established  for 
ever  in  a  wonderful  order,  and  God  saw  that  His  work  was 
good.  As  yet  no  animal  life  moved  upon  the  earth.  But 
when  the  fifth  great  period  had  arrived  a  new  wonder  of 
creative  power  arose.  First  the  waters  teemed  with  life  in 
marvellous  abundance,  and  the  winged  fowl  flew  in  the  open 
firmament  of  heaven.  Next  the  earth  brought  forth  the 
living  creature  after  its  kind.  Cattle,  and  creeping  thing, 
and  beast  of  the  earth  in  their  curious  variety,  beauty  of 
form,  sagacity  of  instinct,  strength  of  limb,  swiftness  of 
motion,  endurance  of  labour.  But  as  yet  no  conscience  of 
right  and  wrong,  no  divine  reason  to  apprehend  moral  truth, 
no  spirit  with  which  to  hold  communion  with  God,  to  under- 
stand His  way,  and  praise  Him  for  His  mighty  works,  was 


6  THE  PENTATEUCH 

in  any  creature  which  God  had  made.  At  length  the  word 
went  forth  from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  and  man  stood  upon 
the  earth  in  his  Maker's  image,  in  the  hkeness  of  God. 
He  stood  erect  with  upHfted  face — "  Os  homini  subUme 
dedit,  coelumque  tueri  Jussit,  et  erectos  ad  sidera  tollere 
vultus."  And  he  was  made  lord  of  the  earth.  God  made 
him  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  His  hands,  and  put 
all  things  under  his  feet,  all  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  the  fishes  of  the 
sea,  and  whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  sea. 

And  now,  when  the  sixth  great  period  closed,  the  work  of 
creation,  as  far  as  this  planet  is  concerned,  was  complete. 
The  work  planned  "  in  the  beginning,"  and  carried  on 
through  countless  ages  with  such  unerring  wisdom  and 
matchless  power,  was  now  finished  and  ended,  and  "God 
rested  from  His  work."  The  Heavenly  Sabbath  was  begun. 
And  God's  priest  was  thus  ready  to  celebrate  his  Maker's 
praise,  and  adore  His  glorious  name. 

But  note  one  remarkable  feature  in  the  work  of  creation — 
the  provision  for  the  continuance  and  extension  of  each  form 
of  life.  The  grass,  the  herb,  the  tree  had  each  its  reproduc- 
tive seed  "after  his  kind."  The  living  creatures  in  the 
waters  and  on  the  earth  received  their  Maker's  blessing — 
"  Be  fruitful  and  multiply."  And  to  the  man  and  his  wife 
God  said,  "  Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth," 
and  that  pair  has  grown  into  the  thousand  millions  which 
now  go  far  to  fill  the  earth. 

Such  then  is  the  answer  which  Holy  Scripture  gives  to 
man's  inquiry — How  came  I  here,  and  whence  came  that 
material  universe  of  heaven  and  earth  which  I  see  around 
me,  with  its  wonderful  order  and  its  rich  furniture  of  things 
useful  and  beautiful  to  behold  ?  And  here  we  shall  do  well 
to  observe  that  while  the  language  of  this  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  is  as  far  as  possible  removed  from  the  language  of 
science,  and  meddles  not  with  any  of  those  questions  which 
are  the  legitimate  objects  of  scientific  treatise,  its  broad 
statements  agree  in  the  most  striking  manner  with  the  con- 
clusions to  which  centuries  of  scientific  inquiry  have  led  the 


GENESIS  7 

brightest  intellects  among  mankind.  Genesis  tells  us,  alone 
among  the  cosmogonies  of  the  ancient  world,  that  Creation 
was  carried  on  in  successive  stages,  spoken  of  as  six  con- 
secutive days.  The  earth  contains  in  her  own  structure  the 
indelible  record  of  the  different  stages  of  her  progress  from 
chaos  to  maturity.  Genesis  tells  us  the  order  in  which  the 
things  created  succeeded  one  another.  The  great  vegetable 
family  first,  the  swarming  brood  of  fish  and  fowl  next,  then 
the  cattle  and  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  then  man,  the 
crown  of  all.  And  this  exact  order,  unknown  to  philosophy  of 
old,  unsung  by  poets,  unguessed  by  sages,  is  the  very  order 
which  the  voice  of  science  proclaims  to-day,  as  ascertained 
by  scientific  research,  and  vouched  for  by  irrefragable  proof 
Here  then  we  leave  this  first  chapter  of  the  Scripture 
record.  If  we  have  read  it  right,  we  shall  have  learnt  to 
adore  the  invisible  Majesty  of  God.  We  shall  have  learnt 
to  see  Him  in  all  His  works,  to  admire  the  wisdom,  the 
power,  and  the  Providence  which  shines  throughout  them 
all.  We  shall  have  felt  the  awful  dignity  of  our  own  man- 
hood— our  responsibility  for  our  use  of  our  splendid  inheri- 
tance, the  obligation  to  use  our  faculties  of  mind  and  body 
to  the  glory  of  the  Giver,  and  the  welfare  of  our  partners 
in  those  gifts.  And  we  shall  now  be  ready  to  follow  with 
awakened  interest  the  history  of  that  race  whose  beginnings 
we  have  here  seen,  as  traced  in  those  same  "  Scriptures " 
from  which  we  have  learnt  the  history  of  Creation. 


Chaps,  ii.  4-111.  24. — The  Fall. 

The  second  chapter  of  Genesis  (commencing  at  ver.  4)  has 
a  feature  which  we  shall  frequently  meet  with  hereafter  as 
characteristic  of  Hebrew  narrative,  viz.,  that  it  goes  back  to 
supply  certain  details  which  had  not  been  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding narrative.  These  details  are  of  great  value.  They 
relate  first  to  the  newly-created  Adam,  or  man.  The  pre- 
ceding narrative  had  told  us  of  the  creation  of  man  in  the 
image  of  God,  but  had  not  told  us  of  what  material  the  man 


8  THE  PENTATEUCH 

was  made.  This  information,  of  special  importance  with 
reference  to  the  approaching  catastrophe  of  man's  sin  and 
death,  is  now  supplied.  "  The  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath 
of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  A  description,  be 
it  observed,  of  man  only  as  he  has  a  life  in  common  with 
other  animals.  For  this  phrase,  "a  living  soul,"  rendered  in 
Gen.  i.  24  "living  creature,"  is  common  to  the  animals.  The 
higher  nature  is  described  in  Gen.  i.  26,  27.  The  "breath 
of  life"  here  spoken  of  is  the  animal  life,  just  as  St.  Paul 
distinguishes  between  \pv^-q  and  Tri/eu/xa — the  natural  man 
and  the  spiritual  man — the  natural  body  and  the  spiritual — 
the  first  Adam,  who  was  made  a  living  soul,  and  the  last 
Adam,  who  was  a  quickening  spirit  (i  Cor.  ii.  14,  15  ;  xv. 

44,  45); 

Again,  in  the  first  chapter  we  were  told  that  God  created 
man  in  His  own  image,  male  and  female  created  He  them 
(ver.  27).  But  now,  ii.  21-25,  we  have  a  fuller  account  of 
how  the  woman  was  made — for  the  man,  and  out  of  the  man. 
And  we  have  enunciated  in  consequence  that  fundamental 
law  of  the  human  race — the  law  of  marriage,  sacred  and 
indissoluble  ;  the  ground  of  the  distinctively  human  institu- 
tion, the  Family,  with  its  holy  and  happy  relations  ;  that 
law,  the  breach  of  which  is  the  most  fruitful  source  of  human 
crime  and  human  misery,  causing  the  degradation  of  the 
nations  where  polygamy  is  sanctioned,  no  less  than  the 
shame  and  wretchedness  of  the  homes  polluted  by  adultery  ; 
sowing  hatred  and  murders,  strife  and  discord  broadcast,  and 
proving  an  absolute  bar  to  happiness  or  to  progression  of 
what  is  good.  What  foresight,  what  wisdom  shine  forth  in 
placing  this  law  of  marriage  at  the  very  head  of  that  stream 
of  human  life,  which  was  now  just  having  its  beginning. 

Another  detail  necessary  for  understanding  the  history 
which  was  to  follow,  was  to  describe  man's  first  happy  abode 
in  the  garden  of  Eden,  z.^.,  of  pleasure,  or  delight.  And  to 
this  end  a  further  description  of  the  condition  of  the  earth 
is  given  as  it  was  in  those  primeval  days,  long  before  the 
creation  of  man,  when  the  earth  was  still  too  hot  for  vegetable 


GENESIS  9 

life,  when  it  was  still  surrounded  by  a  thick  watery  vapour, 
and  the  meteorological  arrangements  which  provide  rain  to 
water  the  earth  had  not  yet  come  into  play.  But  preparatory 
to  the  dwelling  of  man,  the  earth,  in  the  course  of  we  know 
not  how  many  ages,  had  assumed  a  different  condition.  God 
then  prepared  the  garden  of  Eden  for  man's  abode  ;  and 
now,  the  ground  having  cooled  down,  and  the  vapours  cleared 
off,  and,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  refreshing  showers  having 
been  sent  to  water  the  earth,  the  newly-formed  Adam  was 
placed  in  the  garden  to  dress  and  to  keep  it. 

And  now  a  further  detail  is  brought  out  as  regards  the 
animal  creation  and  man's  dominion  over  it.  Gen.  i.  28  had 
simply  recorded  man's  dominion  over  the  inferior  creation. 
But  Gen.  ii.  19  adds  a  most  interesting  incident  arising  from 
that  dominion,  viz.,  that  all  these  creatures  were  paraded 
before  him,  and  he  gave  to  each  the  distinctive  name  by 
which  it  should  be  called. 

Before  leaving  this  chapter  I  would  again  impress  upon  the 
reader  the  importance  of  remembering  that  it  is  essentially  a 
supplemental  chapter — not  progressive  from  the  first  chapter, 
but  filling  up  details  there  omitted. 

And  now  in  chapter  iii.  the  narrative  progresses,  and  a 
new  and  terrible  feature  is  revealed,  mysterious,  inexplicable, 
but  one  the  truth  of  which  has  stained  the  whole  current  of 
the  world's  history,  and  is  a  matter  of  daily  experience  to 
every  one  who  has  reason  and  intelligence — the  existence 
of  evil.  Hitherto  all  has  been  sunshine  in  this  garden  of 
delight.  God's  love,  God's  wisdom,  God's  power  have  filled 
the  earth  with  light,  and  opened  a  prospect  of  unmixed  and 
unending  joy  for  the  man  and  the  woman  whom  He  had 
made.  Now  suddenly  a  dark  shadow  passes  across  the 
scene.  A  suspicion  of  God's  wisdom,  of  God's  power,  and 
of  God's  love  has  arisen  like  a  foul,  poisonous  vapour,  and 
stood  between  man  and  God.  "  God's  commandment  is 
grievous,  and  stands  in  the  way  of  man's  happiness."  "  God's 
word  is  not  true."  "  God's  mind  towards  man  is  not  perfect 
love."  "The  penalties  attached  by  God  to  sin  will  never 
come  to  pass."     "  Not  death,  but  a  brighter,  fuller,  higher 


10  THE  PENTATEUCH 

life  will  be  the  consequence  of  disobedience."  So  spake 
the  Evil  One,  and  man  believed  the  father  of  lies  more  than 
the  God  of  truth,  to  whom  it  is  impossible  to  lie  ;  and  so  he 
disobeyed  and  fell. 

One  has  seen  sometimes  a  glorious  summer  day.  In  the 
still  heat  everything  looked  bright,  beautiful,  and  happy. 
Profound  enjoyment,  a  tranquil  stillness,  a  delicious  repose 
was  on  every  side.  Man,  the  cattle,  the  birds,  the  trees,  the 
flowers,  all  seemed  to  be  basking  in  the  sunshine.  But  in  a 
moment  a  distant  growl  of  thunder  was  heard,  a  rough  wind 
sprung  up,  angry  clouds  gathered  together,  the  lightning 
flashes  were  quickly  followed  by  crashing  peals  of  thunder, 
a  downpour  of  rain  ensued,  and  the  whole  scene  was  changed 
— agitation,  fear,  and  gloom  have  taken  the  place  of  serenity 
and  peace.  The  cattle  are  scared,  and  men  rush  where  they 
can  for  shelter.  A  similar  change,  as  sudden  and  ten  thou- 
sand times  more  awful,  took  place  when  the  tempter's  voice 
was  heard  in  Paradise,  and  sin  first  lodged  in  the  human 
breast.  A  whole  cluster  of  evils  burst  in  at  once.  Shame, 
hitherto  unknown,  trod  quickly  on  the  footsteps  of  departed 
innocence.  The  dread  of  God's  Presence,  and  endeavours  to 
hide  from  it,  took  the  place  of  delight  in  beatific  communion 
with  Him.  Falsehood  and  guilty  excuses  are  not  far  behind. 
Reproach  and  recrimination  cloud  the  intercourse  of  husband 
and  wife  ;  and  then  follows  all  the  train  of  the  penalties  for 
sin.  The  woman  shall  bring  forth  children  in  pain  and 
sorrow  ;  the  man  shall  have  toil  and  labour  for  his  portion 
in  life,  and  in  due  time  the  threat  of  death  shall  take  effect. 
From  the  dust  was  he  taken,  to  the  dust  he  shall  return. 
(Gen.  iii.  19.)  Meanwhile  there  is  a  break  up  of  his  happy 
lot.  Paradise  is  lost  for  him  and  his.  He  who  was  lord  of 
that  happy  home  is  driven  out  to  earn  his  living  with  the 
sweat  of  his  brow.  The  very  ground,  as  it  were,  resents  his 
sin,  and  refuses  to  yield  its  increase.  It  brings  forth  thorns 
and  thistles  to  him,  apt  emblems  of  the  sorrow  of  man's 
troubled  life. 

Now,  whether  we  understand  this  narrative  of  the  tempta- 
tion and  fall  of  man  literally,  or  view  it  as  dressed  more  or 


GENESIS  II 

less  in  the  garb  of  oriental  allegory,  the  lesson  is  the  same  ; 
equally  striking,  equally  impressive,  equally  momentous  to 
every  rational  child  of  man.  The  deceitfulness  of  sin,  its 
lying  promises,  in  the  nature  of  things  impossible  to  be 
realised,  yet  trusted  and  acted  upon  by  the  silly  credulity  of 
man  ;  the  debasing,  corrupting  influence  of  sin,  seen  in  the 
fact  that  each  single  act  of  sin  weakens,  lowers,  deteriorates 
the  moral  agent,  and  makes  him  less  capable  to  resist  sin  at 
each  return  of  temptation  ;  the  infectious  nature  of  sin,  which 
makes  each  sinner  at  once  an  accomplice  with  the  author  of 
evil  in  seducing  others  to  sin  ;  the  rapid  growth  of  sin  from 
what  might  be  thought  trivial  acts  of  disobedience  to  murder 
and  violence,  and  every  abominable  wickedness,  as  seen  in 
the  following  chapters — these  are  some  of  the  obvious  lessons 
of  this  impressive  narrative.  And  then  if  we  look  a  little 
deeper,  we  see  strongly  brought  out  the  inseparable  union 
of  religion  and  morality.  Departing  from  absolute  trust  in 
God  was  the  first  step  to  open  sin  against  God.  Had  the 
lying  suggestions  of  the  Evil  One  been  rejected  at  once  with 
abhorrence  by  Adam  and  Eve,  the  fatal  act  of  disobedience 
would  never  have  followed.  Immovable  love  of  God,  abso- 
lute trust  in  His  perfect  wisdom  and  goodness,  a  firm  grasp 
of  the  truth  of  His  Word,  form  the  security  of  man  for  stead- 
fast continuance  in  well-doing.  For  thus  the  strength  of 
God  supports  the  weakness  of  man. 

Another  momentous  truth  also  stands  out  in  clear,  strong 
outline — the  personality  of  Satan,  the  Evil  One,  the  Tempter, 
the  adversary  of  man.  His  wisdom  suggested  the  fatal 
doubts  ;  his  subtlety  forged  the  persuasive  lie,  "  Ye  shall 
not  die"  ;  his  malice  urged  the  hope,  "Ye  shall  be  as  gods" 
— partially  true,  but  essentially  false.  We  see  the  ver>'  same 
spirit  at  work  in  the  temptations  of  our  Lord,  but  foiled  and 
baffled  by  his  unmixed  goodness.  How  strange  it  is,  that 
with  these  two  examples  of  the  first  and  second  Adam 
before  their  eyes,  with  the  visible  fruits  of  sin  staring  them 
in  the  face  on  every  side,  with  all  the  lessons  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, and  their  own  obsen^ations  of  the  world  in  which  they 
live,  and  the  experience  of  the  successive  generations  of 


12  THE  PENTATEUCH 

mankind,  all  telling  the  same  sad  story,  men  still  go  on 
believing  and  acting  upon  the  promises  of  Satan,  go  on 
expecting  that  the  fruit  of  sin  will  be  to  their  advantage  ; 
that  adulteries,  thefts,  violence,  and  falsehood  will  promote 
their  well-being  ;  that  sin  will  never  be  overtaken  by  the 
righteous  vengeance  of  God,  and  that  workers  of  evil  will 
on  the  whole  be  better  off  than  those  whose  whole  study 
it  is  to  do  the  will  of  their  Father  which  is  in  heaven  ! 

Nor  can  we  pass  away  from  this  chapter  without  devoting 
a  few  words  to  that  most  mysterious  subject,  the  existence 
of  evil  in  a  world  ruled  over  by  a  good  and  Almighty  God. 
The  mystery  can  probably  only  be  fully  explained  by  minds 
to  which  the  whole  boundless  time,  past  and  future,  is  known, 
together  with  the  concerns  of  countless  worlds  and  their 
inhabitants  ;  but  we  can  see  a  few  things  which  help  to 
throw  light  upon  it. 

1.  Freewill  cannot  exist  without  the  possibility  of  its 
choosing  wrong.  If,  therefore,  it  is  desirable  that  beings 
should  be  created  of  such  high  order  as  to  possess  freewill, 
it  is  perhaps  inevitable  that  the  possibility  of  evil  should 
exist  also. 

2.  For  the  preservation  of  innumerable  free  agents  in 
other  worlds  from  the  danger  of  doing  wrong,  perhaps  the 
most  effectual  method  was  to  let  them  see  what  the  actual 
fruits  of  wrongdoing  are  in  one  little  world  like  our 
own. 

3.  The  condition  of  beings  who  have  fallen  and  risen 
again  ;  who  have  gone  through  the  deadly  conflict  with  evil, 
and  by  God's  grace  have  overcome ;  may  be  a  higher  one 
than  could  be  attained  without  such  conflict,  and  so  on  the 
whole  there  may  be  gain. 

4.  Many  of  the  highest  graces  of  the  Christian  character 
could  have  no  existence  amidst  surroundings  of  faultless  good- 
ness and  perfect  happiness.  The  charity  which  suffereth  long 
and  is  kind ;  the  patience  which  faints  not  in  tribulations  ; 
the  meekness  which  renders  good  for  evil ;  the  courage  with 
which  the  saint  confronts  danger  and  death  for  his  Master's 
sake  ;  the  bowels  of  mercy  which  yearn  over  others'  suffer- 


GENESIS  13 

ings,  and  spend  themselves  to  retrieve  others'  wants,  can 
find  no  place  to  flourish  in  except  where  sin  has  entered  in. 

5.  And  once  more,  what  is  it  which  sets  forth  in  most 
exceeding  glory  the  goodness  of  Almighty  God,  but  His 
method  of  dealing  with  the  sin  of  our  fallen  world?  Not 
in  the  wisdom  and  power  which  the  structure  of  the  earth 
displays  ;  not  in  the  boundless  firmament  with  all  its  glori- 
ous array  ;  not  in  the  creation  of  men  and  angels,  with  all 
their  faculties,  do  we  find  our  highest  conception  of  the 
mind  and  character  of  God  ;  but  in  the  Cross  and  Passion  of 
the  Son  of  God.  That  wondrous  love  of  our  fallen  world, 
that  infinite  compassion  for  our  ruined  race,  that  boundless 
mercy  towards  His  rebellious  creatures,  which  shine  forth 
in  the  redemption  of  the  world  by  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  give  us  a  knowledge  of  what  God  is  which 
nothing  else  could  have  done,  and  this  could  not  have  been 
had  not  evil  entered  into  the  world. 

We  notice,  lastly,  a  new  feature  in  this  second  and  third 
chapter,  viz.,  the  introduction  of  the  sacred  name  of  Jehovah  * 
— englished  throughout  the  Authorised  Version  by  "the 
Lord,"  after  the  example  of  the  Septuagint,  which  uniformly 
renders  it  Kvpios.  This  is  supposed  by  the  German  critics 
to  arise  from  the  Scripture  narrative  being  made  up  of  two 
distinct  sources,  among  others,  one  of  which  used  the  name 
of  Elohim  for  God,  and  the  other  the  name  of  Jehovah, 
whence  they  call  the  one  "Elohist"  and  the  other  the 
"  Jehovist."  But  this  explanation,  though  adopted  by  some 
English  writers,  is  uncertain,  and  rests  upon  no  sufficient 
foundation.  For  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  name 
Jehovah,  see  Exod.  iii.  13,  14. 

*  The  true  pronunciation  of  the  name  is  not  known,  because  the 
Jews  never  pronounced  it,  but  read  in  its  stead  Adonai  (lord),  to  which 
word  the  vowel  points  of  Jehovah  belong.  The  Germans  always  write 
it  Jahveh. 


14  THE  PENTATEUCH 


Chap.  iv.  1-24.— Earliest  History  of  Mankind 
OUT  OF  Paradise. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  the  earliest  record  existing  of  the 
life  and  actions  of  mankind  immediately  after  the  fall.     Like 
all  the  earliest  histories  of  which  we  know,  it  takes  the  form 
of  a  Genealogy  (see  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  Genealogy)^  and  it 
is  the  genealogy  of  Adam's  first-born  son  Cain,  marking 
the  principle  of  primogeniture  which  afterwards  prevailed. 
It  is  not  the  genealogy  of  the  family  whose  record  fills  the 
pages  of  Holy  Scripture — the  race  of  Seth,  Noah,  Abraham, 
Jacob — the  Israelites,  David,  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord.     That 
follows  afterwards.     But  it  is  the  history  of  the  descendants 
of  Adam's  first-born.     It  is  stained  by  the  account  of  the 
first  murder,  and  that  the  dreadful  one  of  fratricide.     The 
account  is  in  some  points  very  obscure,  but  the  main  drift 
of  it  is  clear.     Cain  and  his  younger  brother  Abel  each 
brought  their  offerings  to  God.     Cain  offered  of  the  fruits 
of  the  earth,  Abel  offered  the  firstlings  of  his  flock.     But 
God  had  respect  to — z>.,  accepted  graciously — Abel's  offer- 
ing, but  had  not  respect  unto  Cain's  offering.     We  are  not 
told  what  was  the  exact  cause  of  Cain's  rejection,  but  ver.  7 
seems  to  say  plainly  that  it  was  for  some  misdeed,  some 
sin  which  lay  at  his  door,  that  he  was  not  accepted  ;  with 
which  I  John  iii.  12  agrees,  for  he  tells  us  that  the  cause  of 
Cain's  hatred  to  his  brother  was  that  his  own  works  were 
evil,  and  his  brother's  righteous.     Neither  are  we  told  how 
God's  rejection  of  Cain's  offering  was  manifested.     But  the 
effect  of  the  slighting  of  his  own  offerings  while  his  brother's 
were  graciously  accepted,  was  greatly  to  rouse  Cain's  anger,* 
and  excite  his  envy  and  hatred  against  his  brother  to  such 
a  pitch,  that  he  seized  or  made  the  opportunity,  when  they 

*  The  Hebrew  text  of  ver.  8  cannot  bear  the  sense  given  to  it  in 
the  A. v.,  "  Cain  talked  with  Abel."  It  can  only  be  rendered,  "  Cain 
said  unto  Abel" — but  then  nothing  follows.  The  Septuagint  supplies, 
"  Let  us  go  into  the  field" — i.e.,  Cain  decoyed  Abel  into  the  field,  of 
malice  prepense,  for  the  express  purpose  of  murdering  him. 


GENESIS  15 

were  alone  in  the  field  out  of  sight,  to  rise  up  against  his 
brother  and  slay  him.  And  thus  was  the  earth  first  stained 
by  man's  blood  being  shed  by  man. 

Other  hints  given  us  of  this  earliest  stage  of  man's  habi- 
tation in  the  earth  are  of  considerable  interest,  though  of 
another  kind.  Thus,  we  learn  that  there  was  already  on 
the  earth  some  localised  Presence  of  God,  some  place  where 
He  specially  manifested  Himself,  where  His  blessing  rested 
on  those  who  sought  Him  rightly,  and  where  His  worship 
was  performed.  For  Cain  in  his  pathetic  lament  says  that 
when  he  is  driven  out  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  meaning 
the  home  where  he  had  hitherto  dwelt,  he  shall  be  "hid 
from  God's  face"  ;  and  in  ver.  16  it  is  said  that  Cain  "went 
out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  And  the  land  to 
which  he  fled  was  called  the  land  of  Nod,  i.e.,  of  banish- 
ment. There  must,  too,  have  been  some  altar  on  which 
Cain  and  Abel  laid  their  minchah  or  offering  to  God. 

Then  we  learn  how  early  the  division  of  labour  amongst 
mankind  begun.  "Abel  was  a  keeper  of  sheep,  but  Cain 
was  a  tiller  of  the  ground."  And  a  little  later  (ver.  20)  we 
read  of  Jabal,  the  father  of  such  as  dwell  in  tents  and  among 
cattle,  i.e.^  who  led  a  nomad  life,  in  opposition  to  those  who, 
like  Cain  himself,  built  cities  and  dwelt  in  houses  (ver.  17). 

Then,  again,  we  find  the  arts  already  beginning  to  em- 
bellish life,  and  cause  a  further  division  of  labour.  Music 
came  in  to  cheer  and  refine  mankind.  The  great  musician 
of  the  day  was  Jubal,  the  son  of  Lamech  (vers.  19,  21).  He 
invented  both  stringed  and  wind  instruments,  called  harps 
and  organs  in  the  A.V.  Then,  too,  sprung  up  artificers  in 
brass  or  rather  copper,  and  iron.  Whether  they  wrought  the 
metals  for  agricultural  implements,  for  coins,  &c,,  or  for  war- 
like instruments,  does  not  appear.  But  it  seems  probable 
from  the  connection  of  Lamech's  slaughter  of  the  young  man 
with  the  sharpening  or  forging  of  iron  mentioned  in  ver.  22, 
that  Lamech  slew  him  with  a  weapon  made  by  his  son 
Tubal-cain.  Anyhow,  this  use  of  metals,  and  specially  of  iron, 
marks  a  considerable  progress  in  civilised  life. 

One  more  token  of  culture  may  be  seen  in  Lamech's  song, 


i6  THE  PENTATEUCH 

the  earliest  specimen  in  existence  of  poetical  composition. 
If  we  have  it  not  in  the  language  in  which  it  was  originally 
spoken,  it  is  doubtless  a  faithful  translation  of  its  form  and 
meaning.  Lastly,  by  the  side  of  those  evidences  of  the 
early  civilisation  of  mankind — so  contrary  to  the  theory  of 
human  life  beginning  in  the  lowest  savagery,  and  advancing 
through  slow  degrees  upwards — we  have  the  sad  instances 
of  departure  from  God's  laws,  in  the  institution  of  polygamy 
(ver.  19),  and  the  repetition  of  the  crime  of  Cain,  the  founder 
of  the  line.  Here  we  see  how,  as  in  the  history  of  later 
races,  Greek,  Roman,  and  others,  progress  in  the  arts  ot 
civilised  life  may  run  side  by  side  with  progressive  vice  and 
wickedness,  and  that  "  the  fear  of  God  is  the  beginning 
of  wisdom "  with  a  view  to  national  as  well  as  individual 
happiness. 


Chaps,  iv.  25-v.  32. 

We  now  come  to  the  main  stream  of  the  Bible  History, 
the  history  of  that  race  of  men  to  whom  was  entrusted  the 
mission  of  preserving  in  the  world  through  many  successive 
ages,  amidst  the  surrounding  darkness  of  heathen  idolatries 
and  abominations,  the  knowledge  of  the  One  true  and  living 
God,  of  His  will  and  His  word  ;  that  race  to  whom  were 
committed  the  oracles  of  God  to  be  kept,  and  in  due  time 
communicated  by  them  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole 
earth  ;  that  race  from  whom  were  to  spring  in  successive 
generations  such  men  as  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Samuel, 
David,  Elijah,  Daniel,  and  all  the  prophets  ;  and  from  whom, 
when  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,  was  to  be  born  the 
Christ  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  Jesus  our  Lord. 
We  notice  this  carefully,  both  that  we  may  feel  the  vast 
importance  of  this  genealogy,  standing  as  it  does  at  the 
head  of  such  a  history,  and  also  as  marking  the  wonderful 
unity  of  Holy  Scripture  running  with  one  unbroken  plan,  and 
displaying  one  unwavering  purpose,  and  testifying  to  the 
action  of  One   Mind  and  One   Hand,  through  so  many 


GENESIS  ly 

successive  generations,  to  have  the  termination  of  its  course 
only  in  the  Ocean  of  Eternity. 

At  the  head  then  of  this,  which  we  may  call  the  Messianic 
line,  stands  Seth  the  son  of  Adam  (Luke  iii.  38),  He  seems 
to  have  been  born  after  the  death  of  Abel  (Gen.  iv.  25). 
Noah,  who  stands  last  in  this  pedigree,  was  the  tenth  genera- 
tion from  Adam,  inclusive.  The  whole  time,  according  to 
the  numbers  of  the  Hebrew  text  comprehended  in  this 
genealogy,  which  goes  down  to  the  500th  year  of  Noah's  life, 
was  1556  years.  But  the  Septuagint  version,  by  adding  100 
years  to  the  age  of  Adam,  Seth,  Enos,  Cainan,  and  Mahalaleel 
respectively,  before  the  birth  of  their  son,  and  by  one  or  two 
other  slight  differences,  raises  the  total  to  2162  years.  It  is 
difficult  to  decide  which  is  right.  Numbers  are  always  more 
liable  to  change  in  the  process  of  transcription  than  any 
other  records. 

The  longevity  of  man  at  this  early  period  of  his  history  is 
remarkable.  It  does  not  seem  unnatural  that  the  sentence 
of  death  for  man's  sin  should  work  gradually.  Man's  original 
frame  was  made  for  immortality.  Death  was  the  penalty 
of  sin,  and  the  change  in  the  constitution  of  man  which 
reduced  the  period  of  human  life  from  930  years  of  Adam 
to  the  normal  three  or  four  score  of  human  life  to-day  was 
gradual.  From  Adam  to  Noah  human  life  ranged  from  900 
to  700  years ;  from  Shem  to  Haran,  from  600  to  200  ;  from 
Abraham  to  Joshua,  from  175  to  no  years.  After  that  it 
seems  to  have  come  down  to  the  present  average.  For  the 
opinion  of  Haller  and  Buffon  on  the  early  longevity  of  men, 
and  the  traditions  of  Hindoos,  Babylonians,  Greeks,  and 
others,  in  active  accordance  with  this  account  in  Genesis, 
see  "  Aids  to  Faith,"  pp.  278,  279. 

Chaps,  vi.-ix.  17.— The  Flood. 

The  narrative  has  now  brought  us  to  the  time  of  that 
terrible  event  in  the  history  of  the  earth  and  of  man  upon  it, 
the  destruction  of  "the  world  that  then  was"  (2  Pet.  iii.  6) 
by  the  waters  of  the  Deluge.     It  is  remarkable  that  the 

s".  r.  B 


i8  THE  PENTATEUCH 

traditions  of  almost  all  the  nations  of  the  world  speak  of  the 
Deluge.  The  Babylonian  account  discovered  and  published 
by  George  Smith  is  nearly  identical  with  that  of  Genesis. 
Some  account  of  the  traditions  of  the  Chinese,  Hindoos, 
Armenians,  Phrygians,  Goths,  the  Polynesian  islands,  and 
others  will  be  found  in  "Aids  to  Faith,"  p.  264  ff.  The 
question  whether  the  flood  submerged  the  whole  earth,  or  only 
that  portion  of  it  which  was  then  inhabited  by  man,  is  one 
rather  for  physicists  to  determine.  The  Scripture  narrative 
is  capable  of  either  interpretation,  the  main  point  being  the 
destruction  of  the  world  of  the  ungodly.  The  flood  is  spoken 
of  in  the  New  Testament  (Matt.  xxiv.  37,  39  ;  i  Pet.  iii.  29  ; 
2  Pet.  ii.  5  ;  iii.  5-7  ;  Heb.  xi.  7).  See  the  allusion  to  it  in 
the  baptismal  service  in  the  Prayer-Book.  The  sacred  writer 
then  is  about  to  give  the  detailed  account  of  the  Deluge  to 
which  the  genealogy  of  Noah  had  now  brought  him,  and  he 
begins  by  an  incident  which  apparently  had  much  to  do 
with  it,  the  intermarriage  of  "the  sons  of  God"  with  "the 
daughters  of  men."  The  meaning  of  this  statement  has 
been  much  disputed,  (i.)  One  opinion  is  that  the  "sons 
of  God "  means  the  descendants  of  Seth  who  feared  God 
and  lived  righteously,  in  opposition  to  the  "daughters  of 
men,"  i.e.^  the  daughters  of  those  who  had  cast  ofl"  the  fear 
of  God,  and  had  "corrupted  their  way  upon  the  earth." 
But  the  words  are  hardly  susceptible  of  such  a  meaning. 
(2.)  The  other  opinion,  taking  the  phrase  "  the  daughters  of 
men  "  or  "  of  Adam  "  in  its  natural  sense,  and  "  the  sons  of 
God"  as  opposed  to  it,  and  implying  that  those  spoken  of 
were  not  sons  of  Adam,  is  that  "the  sons  of  God"  were 
those  fallen  angels  spoken  of  by  Jude,  who  "  left  their  own 
habitation  "  (Jude  v.  6)  and  came  to  the  earth,  and  took  to 
themselves  wives  of  "the  daughters  of  men."  The  result 
of  their  marriage  was  the  birth  of  "gibborim,"  mighty  men, 
men  of  renown  which  were  of  old.  If  this  is  the  true  inter- 
pretation, it  finds  its  counterpart  in  heathen  mythology, 
which  so  often  speaks  of  "the  gods"  coming  down  from 
heaven  to  earth,  and  of  heroes  whose  fathers  were  gods, 
and  their  mothers  daughters  of  men. 


GENESIS  19 

Leaving  this  obscure  question,  which  is  one  among  many 
marks  of  the  great  antiquity  of  this  record,  we  notice  the 
stress  which  the  history  lays  upon  the  prevalent  wickedness. 
Before  relating  the  awful  catastrophe  which  was  about  to 
overwhelm  the  human  race,  the  writer  is  careful  to  justify 
the  ways  of  God  by  showing  the  fearful  wickedness  of  man. 
"The  wickedness  of  man  was  great  upon  the  earth,  and 
every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil 
continually"  (ver.  5).  "The  earth  was  corrupt  before  God, 
and  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence"  (ver.  11).  "All  flesh 
had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth"  (ver.  12).  Yet  even 
so  had  "the  long-suffering  of  God  waited"  120  years  to  give 
them  opportunity  of  repentance,  while  Noah,  "a  preacher 
of  righteousness,"  in  vain  exhorted  them  to  turn  to  God, 
and  so  at  length  the  threatened  judgment  came.  But 
meanwhile  Noah,  who,  like  his  ancestor  Enoch  (vers.  22,  24), 
walked  with  God,  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord,  and 
was  exempted  from  the  general  destruction.  God  com- 
municated to  him  His  purpose  to  bring  to  an  end  the  whole 
of  the  ungodly  race  who  polluted  the  earth  with  their  evil 
deeds,  and  showed  him  a  way  of  escape  for  himself  and  his 
house.  He  was  told  to  make  an  ark  of  huge  dimensions, 
and  instructed  exactly  as  to  its  construction.  It  must  have 
been  a  long  and  difficult  work,  how  long  we  know  not,  and 
probably  carried  on  amidst  the  ridicule  and  obstruction  of 
his  neighbours.  But  at  length  it  was  completed  by  the 
good  hand  of  God  upon  him,  as  many  other  no  less  difficult 
tasks  have  been  accomplished  by  the  servants  of  God,  notably 
the  building  of  the  Church  of  which  that  ark  was  a  type. 
When  it  was  finished,  and  a  sufficient  store  of  food  (vi.  21) 
laid  up,  and  there  remained  but  one  short  week  before  the 
fatal  day,  then  Noah  gathered  into  the  ark  the  beasts,  the 
cattle,  the  creeping  thing,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air,  by  two 
and  two  of  every  kind,  male  and  female,  but  by  sevens  of 
the  clean  beasts,  those  fit  for  sacrifice,*  and  then  he  took  in 

*  If  the  deluge  was  limited  to  that  portion  of  the  earth  which  was 
inhabited  by  man,  a  comparatively  small  number  of  animals,  chiefly 
cattle,  may  have  been  included  in  the  ark. 


20  THE  PENTATEUCH 

his  own  wife,  and  his  three  sons,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth, 
and  their  wives,  in  all  eight  persons  (i  Peter  iii.  20).  And 
then,  when  all  were  safely  housed,  "  the  Lord,"  doubtless  by 
the  ministry  of  one  of  those  angels  who  are  ministering 
spirits  to  the  heirs  of  salvation,  "  shut  him  in."  Awful  solemn 
moment  !  The  world  of  the  ungodly — men  grown  old  in 
deeds  of  violence,  young  men  in  all  the  pride  of  life,  and 
reckless  confidence  in  their  youth  and  strength,  giddy  women 
given  up  to  pleasure,  all  alike  hardened  in  their  lawless 
ways,  and  impossible  to  rouse  to  any  sense  of  danger,  or 
any  fear  of  God — there  they  were  standing  on  the  very  edge 
of  destruction,  Noah's  solemn  warnings  scarcely  faded  from 
their  ears,  yet  they  still  intent  upon  nothing  but  the  affairs 
of  this  life.  Noah  and  his  family  withdrawn  from  their 
company,  and  shut  up  in  that  strange  ark,  were  they  credu- 
lous fanatics,  or  specious  hypocrites,  or  men  beside  them- 
selves ?  Well !  and  their  thoughts  were  still,  what  shall  we 
eat,  what  shall  we  drink  ?  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ? 
Or  another  was  saying,  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years.  Take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. 
Or  some  were  quarrelling  and  striving,  or  the  strong  were 
oppressing  the  weak,  and  deeds  of  violence  were  being 
done,  and  deeds  of  grasping  dishonesty,  or  works  of  lawless 
lust  and  pleasure.  When  lo  !  the  sky  was  darkened  with 
clouds,  and  then  the  sheets  of  rain  came  pouring  down,  and 
at  the  same  time  "  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  "  were 
broken  up  and  poured  out  their  floods  upon  the  land.  Some 
doubtless  fled  to  the  hills,  some  perhaps  rushed  to  the  ark 
before  it  began  to  float — but  "the  door  was  shut"  (Matt. 
XXV.  10).  The  day  of  grace  was  ended.  They  were  all 
swept  away.  Meanwhile,  Noah  and  his  family  were  safe 
within  the  ark.  For  forty  days  the  rain  continued,  and  the 
flood  increased,  but  the  ark  rose  majestically  upon  the  rising 
waters.  It  was  a  full  year  before  the  earth  was  sufficiently 
dry  for  Noah  and  his  family  to  go  forth  from  the  ark  (viii. 
13-19).  Noah's  first  act  on  once  again  setting  foot  upon  the 
earth  was  to  build  an  altar  to  the  Lord,  and  to  offer  sacrifices 
thereupon :   sacrifices  expressing  his  thankfulness  for  the 


GENESIS  21 

wonderful  mercy  shown  him  in  his  preservation  ;  sacrifices 
expressing  the  consecration  of  himself  and  all  belonging  to 
him  to  the  service  of  God  his  Saviour. 

Of  the  many  moral  lessons  contained  in  this  wonderful  and 
beautiful  narrative,  we  will  select  only  one. 

The  example  of  Noah  cleaving  to  that  which  is  good 
in  the  face  of  universal  corruption.  He  was  living  in  the 
midst  of  the  world  of  the  ungodly.  Rich  and  poor,  mighty 
men  and  men  of  low  degree,  men  and  women,  old  and  young, 
were  all  with  one  accord  following  the  way  of  their  own  evil 
hearts.  But  did  the  practice  of  that  evil  world  change  the 
nature  of  things  ?  Did  right  cease  to  be  right  because  men 
did  wrong  ?  Was  God  no  longer  God  because  men  rebelled 
against  Him  ?  Was  sin  no  longer  sin  because  men  loved  it 
and  wallowed  in  it  ?  Nay,  verily — and  Noah  felt  this,  and 
he  acted  upon  it.  Look  at  him  !  A  just  man,  and  perfect 
in  his  generations.  He  stands  upright,  fearing  God,  and 
doing  right.  He  perseveres  in  what  is  right,  year  after  year, 
century  after  century.  Nothing  moves  him.  Neither  the 
force  of  example  nor  the  solicitations  of  sin,  nor  familiarity 
with  the  sight  of  evil,  nor  the  fear  of  ridicule,  nor  the  danger 
of  persecution.  He  steadily  fears,  loves,  and  obeys  God. 
And  so  he  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  in  that  day 
of  judgment. 

In  reading  the  preceding  chapters  the  reader  should  re- 
member what  was  said  above  of  the  peculiarity  of  Hebrew 
narrative,  which  goes  back,  again  and  again,  to  add  some 
detail,  or  explain  some  particular,  in  what  had  gone  before. 


Chaps,  ix.  i8-xi.  26.— The  Division  of  the  Nations. 

The  first  act  in  the  great  drama  of  human  life  upon  the 
earth  is  ended,  and  the  second  act  has  begun.  Mankind 
now  makes  a  fresh  start.  From  the  eight  souls  who  were 
saved  in  the  ark  the  population  of  the  earth  begins  afresh, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  renewed  earth  begin  their  fresh 
course  with  this  signal  advantage.    They  have  had  a  terrible 


22  THE  PENTATEUCH 

experience  of  the  consequences  of  sin  and  ungodliness,  and 
they  have  had  an  encouraging  experience  of  the  tender 
mercy  of  God  to  them  who  love  and  fear  Him.  Will  this 
suffice  to  fix  men  in  the  practice  of  virtue  and  religion,  and 
so  secure  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  world  ?  The  sub- 
sequent narrative  will  show. 

The  histor}',  as  usual,  takes  the  fomi  of  genealogy.  We 
read  at  ix.  i8,  "The  sons  of  Noah  that  went  forth  of  the 
ark  were  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth.  These  are  the  three 
sons  of  Noah,  and  of  them  was  the  whole  earth  overspread." 
The  progress  of  the  genealogy  is  arrested  by  the  incident  of 
Noah's  intoxication,  and  the  conduct  of  his  three  sons  re- 
spectively, which  led  to  the  prophetic  announcement  of  the 
destinies  of  their  respective  descendants.  To  Shem  was 
assigned  the  pre-eminent  blessing  that  Jehovah  should  be 
his  God  :  a  blessing  realised  in  the  whole  subsequent  histor>' 
of  Shem's  posterity,  and  specially  in  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham.  To  Japheth  the 
prophetic  blessing  was  given  that  God  would  enlarge  him 
— make  wide  his  border,  and  that  he  should  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem  :  a  blessing  realised  in  the  enormous  growth 
and  wide  diffusion  of  the  Western  nations,  Greeks,  Romans, 
Teutonic,  Slavonic,  Celtic ;  realised,  if  we  consider  Asia  as 
"  the  tents  of  Shem,"  in  the  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great 
in  Asia,  and  the  foundation  of  the  Greek  kingdoms  of  his 
successors  in  Asia,  and  later  in  the  vast  Eastern  Empire  of 
Great  Britain  ;  realised  also  in  a  spiritual  but  ver)'  striking 
sense,  in  the  succession  of  the  Christian  nations  of  the  West 
to  the  great  inheritance  of  Israel,  in  being  made  "fellow- 
citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of  God  "  (Eph. 
ii.  19).  While  Ham's  undutiful  conduct  to  his  father  drew 
down  upon  his  descendants,  through  his  son  Canaan,  the 
prophetic  curse,  "  Cursed  be  Canaan,  a  servant  of  ser\''ants 
shall  he  be  to  his  brethren  :  "  realised  in  the  subjugation  of 
the  Canaanites  by  the  Israelites  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  and 
perpetuated  in  the  name  given  to  the  remnant  of  them  as 
"Solomon's  servants"  (2  Chron.  ii.  17-19  ;  Ezra  ii.  55  ;  Neh. 
xi.  3) ;   and  probably  also  in  the  servile  condition  of  the 


GENESIS  23 

negro  races,  so  long-suffering  under  the  curse  of  the  slave- 
trade. 

After  the  completion  of  this  episode,  the  genealogy  resumes 
its  course  ;  and  the  statement  in  chap.  ix.  19,  that  from  the 
three  sons  of  Noah  the  whole  earth  was  overspread,  is  now 
(chap.  X.)  verified  in  detail.  The  descendants  of  Japheth 
come  first,  and  ver.  3  sums  up  by  saying  that  they  peopled 
the  "isles  of  the  Gentiles."  This  phrase  and  analogous 
ones  seem  always  to  denote  the  western  countries,  the  sea 
coasts,  whether  of  islands  or  continents,  specially  those 
bordering  on  the  Mediterranean.  Thus  Esther  x.  i,  "the 
isles  of  the  sea,"  in  contrast  with  "the  land,"  denotes  Xerxes' 
Western  provinces,  as  opposed  to  those  on  the  Continent  of 
Asia.  "The  isles  of  Chittim"  (Jer.  ii.  10,  xxvii.  6)  denote 
the  coasts  of  Greece,  Italy,  and  the  great  islands  of  the 
Mediterranean,  such  as  Crete  (Jer.  xlvii.  4).  Here  then 
"  the  isles  of  the  nations  "  denote  the  "  countries  of  Europe, 
and  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor,  to  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Palestine  and  Egypt  had  access  only  by  sea"  ("  Speaker's 
Commentary").  The  names  of  Japheth's  descendants  given 
in  vers.  2-4  are  striking  evidences  of  the  truth  of  this  ethno- 
logy. Gomer  represents  the  Cimbri,  the  Cimmerian  Bos- 
phorus,  and  the  Cymri,  or  Cambri.  Javan  represents  the 
lonians  ('laoves).  Elishah  =  Elis,  and  perhaps  Hellas,  and 
'EAAryveg.     Tarshish  =  Tartessus  in  Spain,  and  so  on. 

The  sons  of  Ham  came  next.  Cush  comprises  some,  at 
least,  of  the  dark-skinned  races  of  Africa.  Mizraim  is  the 
Bible  name  for  Egypt,  and  found  occasionally  on  Egyptian 
monuments  ;  Phut,  found  also  on  the  monuments,  is  the 
Libyan  race  ;  and  some  South  Arabian  tribes,  indicated  by 
the  names  Seba,  Havilah,  and  others  in  ver.  7,  also  belong 
to  Cush.  We  are  surprised,  at  first,  to  find  Nimrod  (Micah 
V.  6),  with  his  cities  of  Babel  and  Nineveh,  assigned  to  Cush, 
and  consequently  to  Ham.  But  the  recent  revelations  of 
the  most  ancient  history  of  those  countries,  made  by  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions,  fully  confirm  the  truth  of  the  state- 
ment, "  As  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  were  deciphered,  it 
gradually  became  evident  that  before  any  inhabitant  of  the 


24  THE  PENTATEUCH 

Semitic  stock  had  entered  Chaldea,  it  had  been  peopled  by 
the  Accadians,  who  had  been  the  builders  of  the  cities,  and 
the  founders  of  the  civilisation,  afterwards  borrowed  by  the 
Semites"  (Note  to  Gen.  x.  lo  in  Bishop  Ellicott's  Com- 
mentary). The  same  writer  observes,  with  reference  to  the 
name  Accad  in  ver.  lo,  that  whereas  it  "was  meaningless 
fifty  years  ago,  it  is  now  a  household  word  in  the  mouth  of 
Assyriologers "  (ibid.).  So  surprisingly  have  these  ancient 
Scriptural  records  been  confirmed  by  the  recent  discoveries 
of  long  lost  monuments.  To  Ham  belong  also  the  Philistines, 
and  all  the  tribes  of  Canaanites,  including  the  Sidonians. 
These,  under  the  name  of  Fenike  or  Phoenicians,  are  often 
mentioned  in  the  Egyptian  inscriptions.  It  is  worth  men- 
tioning, as  an  indication  of  the  great  antiquity  of  this  docu- 
ment, that  in  ver.  19  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the  other 
cities  of  the  plain,  are  spoken  of  as  still  standing. 

The  sons  of  Shem,  "  the  father  of  all  the  children  of  Eber," 
follow  ;  but  in  this  chapter  (x.)  the  Messianic  line  is  only 
carried  down  to  Peleg,  "in  whose  time  the  earth  was  divided." 
From  vers.  31,  32,  which  look  like  the  end  of  a  pedigree,  as 
well  as  from  the  fact  that  chap.  xi.  10,  which  is  the  heading  of 
the  subsequent  generations  of  Shem,  looks  like  the  heading 
of  a  pedigree,  we  may,  perhaps,  conclude  that  the  older 
document  ended  when  chap.  x.  ends,  and  that  chap.  xi.  10  ff. 
is  a  later  pedigree,  made  out  in  the  days  of  Abraham. 
Anyhow,  this  genealogy  in  chap.  xi.  carries  us  down  through 
ten  generations,  from  Shem  to  Abraham,  and  is  repeated 
exactly  in  i  Chron.  i.  24-27,  and  in  Luke  iii.  34-36,  with  the 
exception  of  the  interposition  of  a  Cai7ian  between  Arphaxad 
and  Sala  in  Luke,  which  seems  to  be  clearly  a  scribe's  error. 
(See  "  Genealogies  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  chap,  viii.) 
Of  the  sons  of  Shem,  the  most  remarkable  names  are  Elam, 
named  as  a  people  in  Gen.  xiv.  i,  and  appearing  frequently 
in  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  as  a  powerful  nation  ;  Asshur, 
from  whom  descended  the  Assyrian  race  ;  and  Aram,  whose 
descendants  were  the  various  tribes  of  Arameans,  or  Syrians, 
— as  the  A.V.  calls  them — in  Mesopotamia,  at  Damascus,  at 
Zoba,  &c.     Eber  was  the  father  of  the  Hebrev/  race. 


GENESIS  25 

Before  quitting  the  tenth  chapter,  we  ought  to  notice  that 
there  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  order  of  birth  of  the  three 
sons  of  Noah.  They  were  always  named  as  Shem,  Ham, 
and  Japheth  ;  and  the  A.V.  of  Gen.  x.  21,  "Shem  .  .  .  the 
brother  of  Japheth  the  elder,"  is,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful. 
The  more  natural  rendering  is  that  of  the  Revised  Version. 
"  Unto  Shem  .  .  .  the  elder  brother  of  Japheth."  But  on 
the  other  hand,  Shem  being  named  first,  is  no  proof  that  he 
was  the  eldest.  Abraham  is  named  before  Nahor  (chap. 
xi.  29),  though  Nahor  was  the  eldest.  Ephraim  is  almost 
always  named  before  Manasseh,  though  Manasseh  was  the 
eldest.  Jacob  is  named  before  Esau  (Josh.  xxiv.  4).  And 
in  Gen.  x.  2,  Japheth's  genealogy  being  given  first,  is  rather 
indicative  of  his  being  the  eldest.  And  Gen.  ix.  24  looks 
as  if  Ham  was  the  youngest  of  the  three  sons,  so  that  some 
doubt  hangs  over  the  order  of  the  sons  of  Noah. 

The  only  historical  event  mentioned  in  this  genealogy  is 
the  remarkable  one  of  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  the 
dispersion  of  mankind  to  the  several  countries  assigned  to 
them  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  narrative  goes  back, 
as  is  usual  with  Hebrew  narratives,  to  explain  what  had 
gone  before.  It  seems  that  shortly  after  the  flood  men  had 
journeyed  eastward,"^  and  settled  in  the  rich  plain  of  Shinar, 
or  Babylonia.  Here  they  found  abundance  of  brick-earth, 
which,  whether  dried  in  the  sun,  or  baked  in  the  kiln,  sup- 
plied excellent  material  for  building.  Here,  then,  they 
resolved  to  build  a  city  and  a  lofty  tower.  It  seems  from 
ver.  4  that  their  object  was,  not  as  has  been  thought  without 
any  sufficient  ground,  on  the  authority  of  Josephus,t  to  build 
a  tower  so  lofty  as  to  secure  them  a  place  of  refuge  from 
another  flood,  but  to  check  the  dispersion  which  they  had 
some  reason  to  fear  would  take  place.  It  seems,  too,  that 
there  was  some  spirit  of  defiance  of  God  in  what  they  pro- 

*  ^'aW?  might  mean  "  from  the  East,"  as  it  is  rendered  in  the  A.V. 
of  Gen.  xi.  2.  But  it  may  also  mean  "in  the  direction  of  the  East," 
"eastwards,"  which  is  doubtless  its  meaning  here.  The  ark  rested  to 
the  west  of  Shinar,  and  the  first  inhabitants  journeyed  eastwards. 

f  Compare  Ps.  Iv.  9. 


26  THE  PENTATEUCH 

posed  to  do,  though  from  the  conciseness  of  the  narrative, 
it  is  not  clear  in  what  it  consisted.  Anyhow,  this  purpose 
was  defeated  by  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  the  result  was 
the  dispersion  of  mankind,  and  their  settlement  in  their 
various  localities. 

The  obscurity  of  this  history  of  the  dispersion  which  took 
place  in  the  days  of  Peleg  is  probably  due  to  its  antiquity. 
When  it  was  first  put  on  record,  circumstances  might  be 
known  by  tradition  which  explained  it,  but  which  have  since 
been  forgotten.  But  the  two  main  facts  of  it,  the  original 
unity  of  language,  and  the  spread  of  the  population  of  the 
world  from  one  centre,  are  matters  for  scientific  research. 
Thus,  not  only  are  the  widely  spread  members  of  the  Indo- 
European  family  springing  from  Japheth,  and  comprising 
the  Sanscrit,  Greek,  Latin,  Teutonic,  Sclavonic,  and  Celtic 
languages  closely  connected  with  each  other,  but  they  have 
also  a  clear,  though  less  close  connection  with  the  Semitic 
family.  At  least  900  or  800  Hebrew  roots  are  found  in 
Greek  or  Latin  words  alone.  Philology  discovers  a  like 
connection  between  other  families  of  language.  We  know, 
too,  how  the  great  streams  of  European  population  have 
flowed  from  the  East  to  the  West.  All  the  evidence  we 
have  confirms  our  belief  that  the  different  races  of  mankind 
were  not  avrox^ove?,  springing  up  like  the  indigenous  flora 
of  particular  districts,  but  that  they  all  migrated  from  the 
place  of  their  original  settlement  to  that  which  they  after- 
wards possessed,  so  that  the  statements  which  lie  at  the  root 
of  the  narrative  are  unquestionably  true. 

Chaps,  xi.  29-xii.  18. — The  Call  of  Abram. 

The  genealogy  of  Shem  now  brings  us  to  a  most  impor- 
tant incident,  the  birth  of  Abram,  whose  history  follows  at 
length  down  to  chap.  xxv.  10.  This  illustrates  a  marked 
feature  in  the  Scriptural  narrative,  viz.,  that  it  treats  certain 
epochs  very  fully,  as  the  life  of  Jacob,  the  sojourning  of  his 
descendants  in  Egypt,  and  their  Exodus  under  Moses,  the 
times  of  Samuel,  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  the  life 


GENESIS  27 

of  Elijah  and  Elishah,  and  so  on  ;  while  other  long  periods, 
like  the  lives  of  the  Patriarchs,  the  first  thirty  years  of  Saul's 
reign,  the  long  reign  of  Uzziah,  &c.,  are  passed  over  in  com- 
parative silence.  There  is  a  gap  of  nearly  sixty  years  between 
Ezra  vi.  and  vii.  in  which  nothing  whatever  is  recorded. 

This  section  of  the  history  is  also  remarkable  as  bringing 
forward  for  the  first  time  that  purpose  of  God,  which  for 
between  one  and  two  thousand  years  had  so  powerful  an 
influence  upon  the  world  at  large,  and  still  affects  materially 
the  condition  of  mankind,  I  mean  the  planting  of  Abram's 
descendants  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  Infidels  can  of  course, 
if  they  please,  shut  their  eyes  to  the  most  colossal  truths. 
But  the  fact  remains  firmly  embedded  in  the  history  of  our 
race  that  the  separation  of  the  Israelites  from  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  their  establishment  in  Palestine,  their  religious 
institutions,  and  the  great  gift  of  Holy  Scripture  entrusted 
to  them,  has  been  for  between  3000  and  4000  years  a  living 
influence  affecting  more  powerfully  the  moral  condition  of 
mankind  than  any  other  event  that  can  be  named,  including 
as  it  does  the  coming  of  Christ  into  the  world.  Nor  do  we 
know  what  further  benefits  to  flow  from  Israel  to  the  world 
are  in  the  womb  of  time  (see  Rom.  xi.  12,  15).  It  is  well 
therefore  to  fix  our  attention  upon  this  first  appearance  of 
the  Divine  purpose  which  we  see  in  Gen.  xi.  31,  where  we 
read  that  "Terah  took  Abram  his  son,  and  Lot  the  son  of 
Haran,  his  son's  son,  and  Sarai  his  daughter-in-law,  his  son 
Abram's  wife,  and  led  them  forth  (so  LXX.)  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan."  But  what  was 
the  motive  of  this  journey  ?  for  none  has  hitherto  been  given. 
It  is  given  in  chap.  xii.  i,  which,  as  usual,  goes  back  to  supply 
something  that  is  wanting  in  the  previous  narrative.  Let  us 
hear  St.  Stephen's  explanation  (Acts  vii.  2-4),  "The  God  of 
glory  appeared  unto  our  father  Abraham  when  he  was  in 
Mesopotamia,  before  he  dwelt  in  Charran,  and  said  unto 
him.  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kindred, 
and  come  into  the  land  which  I  shall  show  thee.  Then 
came  he  out  of  the  land  of  the  Chald^eans  {i.e.,  Mesopotamia), 
and  dwelt  in  Charran  :  and  from  thence,  when  his  father  was 


28  THE  PENTATEUCH 

dead,  he  removed  him  into  this  land  wherein  ye  now  dwell." 
Clearly  then  the  call  to  Abram  was  given  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  as  is  indeed  clearly  implied  in  Gen.  xv.  7,  and  it 
was  in  consequence  of  that  call  that  Terah  with  Abram  his 
son,  and  Lot  his  grandson,  and  Sarai,  Abram's  wife,  left  the 
land  of  their  birth  "  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan."  Why 
they  stopped  at  Haran  or  Charran,  in  the  extreme  north  of 
Mesopotamia,  some  500  or  600  miles  from  Ur,*  does  not 
appear.  It  may  have  been  merely  Terah's  age,  which 
made  the  fatigue  of  travelling  too  great,  or  it  may  have 
been  a  want  of  resolution  in  Terah,  to  which  Abram  in 
filial  duty  yielded.  But  whatever  was  the  cause  it  is 
certain  that  they  tarried  some  years  there,  for  they 
had  time  to  acquire  a  considerable  property  in  cattle 
and  in  slaves  (Gen.  xii.  5).  Abram  was  seventy-five  years 
old  when  he  left  Charran  after  his  father's  death,  and  this 
shows  that,  though  named  first,  Abram  was  not  the  eldest 
son  of  Terah,  for  Terah  was  seventy  years  old  when  he 
began  to  have  children  (Gen.  xi.  26).  If  Abram  was  his 
first-born,  then  Terah  would  only  have  been  145  years  old 
(70  +  75)  at  the  time  of  his  death,  whereas  he  was  205  years 
old  when  he  died  (Gen.  xi.  32).  So  that  obviously  Abram 
was  not  the  eldest  son.  But  how  magnificent  was  his 
inheritance,  view  it  first  in  the  promises.  "  I  will  make  of 
thee  a  good  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  a 
blessing  :  and  I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse 
him  that  curseth  thee  ;  and  in  thee  shall  all  the  families  of 
the  earth  be  blessed."  And  again,  after  Abram  had  reached 
the  land  of  Canaan,  and  had  separated  from  Lot,  "  all  the 
land  which  thou  seest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed 
for  ever.  And  I  will  make  thy  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth. 
.  .  .  Arise,  walk  through  the  land,  in  the  length  of  it  and  in 
the  breadth  of  it;  for  I  will  give  it  unto  thee"  (Gen.  xiii. 
14-17).  And  once  more,  when  his  name  was  changed  from 
Abram  (high  father)  to  Abraham  (father  of  a  multitude),  "  I 
will  make  thee  exceeding  fruitful,  and  I  will  make  nations 
of  thee,  and  kings  shall  come  out  of  thee,  and  I  will  establish 
*  Assuming  Mugheir  to  be  the  Ur  of  the  narrative. 


GENESIS  29 

My  covenant  between  Me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee 
...  for  an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee  and 
to  thy  seed  after  thee.  ...  I  will  be  their  God"  (Gen.  xvii. 
1-8).  And  yet  again,  after  the  incident  of  the  offering  up  of 
Isaac,  "By  Myself  have  I  sworn,  saith  the  Lord,  that  in 
blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  multiplying  I  will  multiply 
thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  as  the  sand  which  is 
upon  the  seashore  .  .  .  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  be  blessed"  (Gen.  xxii.  16-18),  promises  repeated  to 
Isaac  (Gen.  xxvi.  2-4),  and  to  Jacob  (Gen.  xxviii.  13-15  ;  xxxv. 
10-12  ;  see  too  Heb.  vi.  13-20),  and  then  view  it  in  the  fulfil- 
ment. Take  in  the  whole  history  of  Israel.  The  Exodus,  the 
conquest  of  Canaan,  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  the 
preserv^ation  of  Israel  as  a  separate  nation  through  the  suc- 
cessive Babylonian,  Persian,  Greek,  and  Roman  Empires — 
their  no  less  marvellous  preservation  through  more  than 
eighteen  centuries  that  they  have  existed,  "  without  a  king, 
without  a  prince,  without  a  sacrifice,  without  an  image, 
without  an  epoch,  and  without  teraphim"  (Hos.  iii.  4),  and 
without  a  native  land.  Or  view  the  spiritual  fulfilment  so 
unspeakably  full  and  large.  The  birth  of  Jesus  Christ, 
"the  son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham"  (Matt.  i.  i).  His 
boundless  kingdom  reaching  to  "the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth"  (Ps.  ii.  8),  and  having  "no  end";  His  name 
which  is  above  every  name,  and  at  which  every  knee  shall 
bow  (Phil.  ii.  9-1 1);  the  countless  millions  of  Christians 
who  are  reckoned  as  the  children  of  Abraham  (Rom.  iv.  16  ; 
Gal.  iii.  7,  9,  29) — sum  up  all  this,  and  much  more  which 
might  be  added,  and  say  whether  the  fulfilment  does  not 
fully  equal  the  promise.  And  if  we  then  come  back  from 
the  contemplation  of  the  vast  glory  of  the  promises  in  their 
fulfilment,  and  look  at  him  to  whom  the  promises  were 
made,  what  a  wonderful  view  it  gives  us  of  the  mind,  and 
Providence,  and  unchangeableness  of  God.  There  was  the 
simple  son  of  Terah,  dwelling  unnoticed  and  unknown  in 
Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  no  greater  than  Haran  or  Nahor  his 
brothers,  or  any  of  his  Aramean  kindred  ;  likely  to  live 
and  die  and  be  forgotten  in  the  land  of  his  birth,  as  far 


30  THE  PENTATEUCH 

as  any  human  eye  could  see.  But  God  destined  for  him 
a  career  of  unmatched  greatness,  to  be  won  in  a  distant 
land ;  and  a  name  of  surpassing  dignity,  to  be  honoured 
by  men  of  every  race,  Jews,  Christians,  and  Mahomedans  ; 
and  a  place  second  to  none  in  the  roll  of  saints  and  faithful 
servants  of  God,  so  that  he  was  called  "the  friend  of  God" 
(2  Chron.  xx.  7  ;  Isa.  xli.  8  ;  Sam.  ii.  23) ;  and  a  posterity 
unique  for  fame  and  multitude ;  and  so  with  unerring  wis- 
dom, and  fixed  purpose,  He  brought  it  all  about,  ordering, 
directing,  controlling  events,  not  only  in  Palestine,  but  in 
Egypt,  Assyria,  Persia,  and  the  whole  world,  year  after 
year,  and  century  after  century,  to  bring  about  His  deter- 
minate counsel,  till  at  length  in  the  fulness  of  time  that 
counsel  took  effect  in  the  birth,  death,  and  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel  through  the 
whole  world,  "  to  perform  the  mercy  promised  to  our  fathers, 
and  to  remember  His  holy  covenant,  the  oath  which  He 
sware  to  our  father  Abraham"  (Luke  i.  72,  73) ;  or  in  the 
words  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  help  "  His  servant  Israel,  in 
remembrance  of  His  mercy,  as  He  spake  to  our  father 
Abraham  and  his  seed  for  ever"  (Luke  i.  54,  55). 

The  chief  historical  events  to  be  noticed  in  this  section, 
are  (i.)  that  the  occupation  of  the  land  of  Canaan  by  the 
Canaanites,  or  sons  of  Canaan,  had  already  taken  place. 
This  occupation  had  been  spoken  of  in  Gen.  xi.  15-19,  but 
without  any  specification  of  the  time  when  it  took  place. 
Now,  upon  Abram's  entrance  into  the  land  of  Canaan, 
and  with  a  view  to  the  promise  that  he  should  be  the 
future  possessor,  in  view  also  of  the  transactions  about 
to  take  place  between  Abram  and  the  sons  of  Heth  (chap, 
xxiii.),  and  other  incidents  in  Abram's  life  (chap.  xxiv.  3,  39), 
it  is  mentioned  that  at  the  time  of  Abram's  entrance  into 
Canaan  (about  B.C.  1700),'^  the  Canaanite  was  already  in 
the  land  (Gen.  xii.  6  ;  xiii.  7). 

(2.)  We  notice  also  that  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  was  in 

*  The  date  would  be  about  1700  B.C.  or  1900  B.C.,  according  as 
you  reckon  the  sojotirn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  as  200  or  400  years 
and  fix  the  date  of  the  Exodus  at  about  B.C.  1300  or  about  B.C.  1500. 


GENESIS  31 

full  power,  and  that  the  hereditary  name  of  the  sovereign 
was  already  Pharaoh.  According  to  Egyptian  chronology, 
the  Egyptian  monarchy  was  then  2500  years  old ;  for 
Menes,  the  first  king,  is  supposed  to  have  reigned  B.C.  4400. 
The  title  of  Pharaoh  too — in  Egyptian  Per-ao,  "the  great 
house  ""^^ — is  contemporary  with  the  third  and  fourth  dynas- 
ties— Memphite.  Their  date  is  placed  at  from  B.C.  3966  to 
B.C.  3633. 

It  seems  probable  also  that  the  Hyksos,  or  shepherd  kings, 
were  reigning  in  the  time  of  Abraham.  But  this  cannot  be 
asserted  as  an  established  fact. 

(3.)  We  have  a  picture  of  the  secular  life  of  those  days. 
Trade  and  barter  had  begun,  and  the  accumulation  of 
wealth.  The  precious  metals  of  gold  and  silver,  whether 
coined  or  weighed  (xxiii.  16),  were  already  the  mediums 
of  exchange.  But  cattle  was  the  chief  source  of  wealth. 
"Abram  was  very  rich  in  cattle,  and  silver,  and  gold" 
(xiii.  2).  Lot  too  "had  flocks  and  herds  and  tents"  (xiii.  5). 
They  did  not  live  in  cities  or  houses,  but  in  tents  (xii.  3  ; 
xiii.  5  ;  xviii.  i,  9),  and  they  moved  frequently  from  place 
to  place  in  search  of  fresh  pastures  for  their  flocks.  We 
see  evidences  of  the  very  early  times  in  the  thinness  of  the 
population.  For  though  the  Canaanites  were  already  in 
the  land,  large  tracts  were  still  without  an  owner,  and  the 
herdmen  of  Abram  and  Lot  could  move  their  herds  and 
cattle  without  interference  from  the  people  of  the  land.  We 
see  it  too  in  the  manners  of  the  time  which  sanctioned  such 
marriages  as  that  of  Abram  with  his  half-sister. 

But  in  the  midst  of  his  wandering  nomad  life,  Abram 
did  not  neglect  the  worship  of  God.  There  was  no  temple 
built  in  those  days,  but  wherever  Abram  sojourned  he  built 
an  altar  to  the  Lord  (xii.  7,  8  ;  xiii.  4,  18),  and  "called  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord." 

(4.)  We  notice  the  absolute  truth  and  impartiality  of  Holy 

Scripture  in  recording  the  faults  and  weaknesses  of  good 

men  ;    faults  springing  out  of  the  state  of  the  society  in 

which  they  lived,  but  still  faults.     Scripture  sets  before  us 

*  Brugsch,  "  Egypt  under  the  Pharaohs,"  p.  23. 


32  THE  PENTATEUCH 

only  one  absolutely  sinless  character,  that  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Abraham,  Noah,  Lot,  Jacob,  Moses,  David, 
all  had  blemishes  more  or  less  deeply-dyed  in  their  lives, 
although  they  were  bright  and  shining  lights  in  the  ages  in 
which  they  lived,  and  in  many  respects  shame  us  who  have 
such  great  advantages  over  them. 


Chap.  iv. — Melchizedek  the  Priest-King. 

This  chapter  is  remarkable  for  two  events,'  the  invasion 
of  Palestine  by  Chedor-la-omer,  King  of  Elam  and  allied 
kings  ;  and  the  appearance  of  Melchizedek,  King  of  Salem. 
A  few  words  must  be  devoted  to  each  of  them. 

1.  We  are  somewhat  startled  at  first  to  hear  of  a  King 
of  Shinar,  i.e.,  Babylonia,  appearing  so  far  west,  and  a  King 
of  Elam,  a  country  east  of  the  Tigris,  claiming  superiority 
over  the  territory  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  coming  to 
enforce  submission  by  arms.  The  strange  names  too,  un- 
known to  history,  and  inexplicable  to  philology,  had  an  air 
of  unreality,  inviting  to  the  sceptic,  and  puzzling  to  the 
believer.  The  cuneiform  inscriptions  have  removed  all 
doubt,  and  confirmed  the  historical  accuracy  of  this  episode. 
The  power  of  the  Elamite  nation,  their  invasions  of  Pales- 
tine, the  meaning  of  the  name  of  their  king,  "  the  servant 
of  Laomer,"  the  names  of  Arioch,  and  Amraphel,  all  come 
to  light,  in  the  recently  deciphered  inscriptions,  thus  afford- 
ing a  striking  confirmation  of  the  historical  truth  of  these 
early  Biblical  narratives,  and  showing  that  they  are  not 
only,  as  Renan  was  compelled  to  acknowledge,  la  verite 
inhne,  absolutely  true,  as  far  as  regards  the  colouring  of  the 
life  and  manners  of  those  early  ages,  but  true  also  as  matters 
of  fact. 

2.  The  other  remarkable  incident  is  the  appearance  of 
Melchizedek,*  King  of  Salem,  and  Priest  of  the  Most  High 

*  See  an  interesting  confirmation  of  the  Scripture  account  of  Mel- 
chizedek, King  and  Priest  of  Salem,  drawn  from  the  Tablets  of  Tel-el- 
Amarna,  in  Sayce's  "  Higher  Criticism  and  Verdict  of  the  Monuments," 
chap.  iv. 


GENESIS 


33 


God.  We  are  struck  at  first  sight  with  his  Hebrew  name, 
meaning  king  of  righteousness,  and  are  ready  to  ask,  How 
could  this  be?  But,  according  to  the  authority  of  Renan, 
it  is  "more  than  probable"  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  land 
Canaan  and  the  Hebrews  spoke  essentially  the  same  lan- 
guage, and  if  so,  the  Hebrew  names  Abimelech,  Melchizedek, 
Adoni-zedek,  and  others  are  in  strict  accordance  with  his- 
toric truth.  Again  we  are  surprised  at  finding  among  the 
native  tribes  of  Canaan  the  worship  of  "the  Most  High 
God"  existing.  But  it  is  a  pleasant  evidence  that  in  those 
early  days,  and  under  favourable  circumstances,  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Living  God  had  not  been  wholly  obliterated, 
and  given  place  to  idolatry  (Exod.  ii.  i6). 

From  the  repetition  thrice  over  (vers.  i8,  19,  20)  of  the 
exact  phrase,  "the  Most  High  God,"  we  may  conclude  that 
that  was  the  title  by  which  God  was  known  to  Melchizedek, 
whose  priest  he  was  ;  the  further  addition  in  ver.  19, 
"possessor  (or  rather  maker)  of  heaven  and  earth,"  and 
the  adoption  of  the  same  phrase  by  Abram  himself  in  ver. 
22,  and  its  application  to  Jehovah,  and  the  payment  of  the 
title  to  Melchizedek,  all  show  that  it  was  the  living  and 
true  God  whom  Melchizedek  served,  and  that  we  have 
here  a  distinct  proof  of  the  survival  of  the  primitive  faith 
of  Adam,  Noah,  and  Shem,  in  a  branch  other  than  that  of 
Abram. 

When  we  turn  to  the  iioth  Psalm,  and  read  the 
words  of  David,  "  The  LORD  said  unto  my  lord.  Sit  thou 
on  my  right  hand  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  foot- 
stool. .  .  .  The  Lord  hath  sworn,  and  will  not  repent. 
Thou  art  a  priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek  ;" 
and  then  go  on  to  read  the  comment  on  these  two  passages 
in  Heb.  vii.,  we  feel  that  w-e  have  here  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  passages  in  the  Old  Testament.  Suddenly, 
in  the  midst  of  what  seemed  to  be  a  simple  narrative  of 
an  ancient  skirmish,  and  of  the  gallant  conduct  of  an  old 
nomad  chief,  we  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  the  eternal 
Priesthood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  Bread  and  Wine 
as  the  symbols  of  His  Body  and  Blood  offered  up  in  sacrifice 

S.  TV  C 


34  THE  PENTATEUCH 

to  God,  and  with  the  abolition  of  the  Levitical  law  to  make 
way  for  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  How  clearly  does  one  such 
incident  set  God's  stamp  upon  the  Old  Testament  as  a 
Book  different  in  kind  from  the  world's  literature,  and  not 
to  be  understood  by  the  same  methods.  And  there  are 
many  other  like  incidents  scattered  up  and  down  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament.  See,  e.g.^  Gal.  iv.  22  ;  i  Cor.  x.  2-4  ; 
Heb.  ix.  8  ;  xiii.  11-13,  &c. 

In  vers.  5-7  there  is  also  an  interesting  scrap  of  very 
ancient  history.  Some  of  the  earliest  races  who  settled  in 
Canaan  are  here  mentioned.  The  Rephaim,  or  sons  of 
Ha-Rapheh  (rendered  the  giant  in  i  Chron.  xx.  6),  were 
a  race  of  men  of  great  stature,  who  seem  to  have  survived 
to  the  time  of  David,  and  who  left  their  name  attached 
to  the  country  they  had  inhabited.  They  are  first  men- 
tioned here,  and  again  at  Gen.  xv.  20,  but  the  place  of  their 
abode,  Ashteroth  Karnaim,  is  very  uncertain.  It  seems, 
however,  to  be  identical  with  Ashteroth  in  Edrei,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Og,  King  of  Bashan,  whose  land  is  called  in 
Deut.  iii.  13  the  land  of  the  Rephaim  (giants,  A.V.).  It 
lay  of  course  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  Og  himself  was 
almost  the  last  of  the  race  (Deut.  iii.  2).  There  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  a  branch  of  the  Rephaim  settled 
on  the  west  of  Jordan,  because  a  valley  lying  between  Jeru- 
salem and  Bethlehem  was  called  the  valley  of  the  Rephaim 
(giants,  A.V.)  (Joshua  xv.  8  ;  xviii.  16  ;  2  Sam.  v.  18,  22  ; 
xxiii.  18  ;  Isa.  xvii.  5).  It  appears,  too,  from  2  Sam.  xxi. 
15-22,  that  Goliath  and  other  Gittites  slain  by  David's 
mighty  men,  were  of  the  "sons  of  Ha-Raphah"  or 
Rephaim.  The  Anakim,  or  sons  of  Anak,  were  probably 
of  the  same  stock. 

The  Zuzims  are  another  ancient  race  of  whom,  and  of 
Ham,  their  dwelling-place,  nothing  further  is  known.  If 
they  were  the  same  as,  or  nearly  connected  with  the 
Zamzummims  (Deut.  ii.  20),  they  had  lived  in  the  country 
of  the  Ammonites  by  whom  they  were  destroyed,  and  who 
dwelt  in  their  stead.  Ham,  in  the  Hebrews,  is  a  different 
word  from  the  Ham  or  Cham  of  i  Chron.  iv.  40. 


GENESIS  35 

The  Emims  were  another  ancient  race  who,  as  well  as  the 
Anakim,  were  accounted  Rephaim,  but  were  called  Emims 
(terrible)  by  the  Moabites,  who  destroyed  them,  and  took 
possession  of  their  country'  (Deut.  ii.  lo,  ii),  Shaveh- 
Kiriathiam — the  plain  of  Kiriathiam — the  well-known  city 
of  the  Moabites. 

The  Horites  were  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Mount  Seir.  Their  name  means  dwellers  in 
caves,  Troglodytes.  They  are  thought  to  have  lived  in  the 
remarkable  caves  on  Mount  Seir,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Petra.  Mention  is  made  of  Seir  the  Horite  (Gen.  xxxvi. 
20,  21  ;  see  too  vers.  29,  30).  The  Edomites,  or  children  of 
Esau,  attacked  them  and  took  possession  of  their  country 
(Deut.  ii.  12,  22)  and  destroyed  them,  though  it  seems  from 
Gen.  xxxvi.  that  a  remnant  was  left  subject  to  the  Edomites. 
The  great  antiquity  of  this  extract  is  seen  by  its  being 
anterior  to  the  occupation  of  Seir  by  the  Edomites. 

Two  great  moral  lessons  are  taught  us  in  this  chapter. 

1.  By  the  example  of  Lot.  Tempted  by  the  richness  and 
fertility  of  the  plain  of  Jordan,  he  had  settled  in  Sodom, 
notwithstanding  the  well-known  wickedness  of  the  people. 
The  folly  of  his  choice  was  made  manifest  when  he  lost 
everything  he  possessed,  his  liberty,  and  nearly  his  life  also, 
leaving  a  lesson  to  men  of  every  rank  and  condition  of  life, 
to  put  their  spiritual  interests  before  their  worldly  interests, 
and  to  value  the  integrity  of  their  moral  character  more  than 
the  acquisition  of  wealth. 

2.  By  the  example  of  Abram,  who,  though  fully  entitled 
to  the  spoil  which  had  been  recovered  by  his  own  prowess, 
yet  would  take  nothing  that  had  belonged  to  the  King  of 
Sodom,  for  fear  that  by  so  doing  he  should  in  any  way 
derogate  from  the  glory  of  God,  and  be  drawn  into  an 
obligation  to  one  who  did  not  fear  or  love  God.  It  is  re- 
markable that  this  noble  self-abnegation  was  immediately 
followed  by  a  renewal  of  the  promise  of  the  land  of  Canaan, 
and  of  a  seed  like  the  stars  of  heaven  for  multitude,  and  by 
that  promise  of  such  boundless  wealth  of  blessing,  "  I  am 
thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward"  (chap.  xv.  i,  5, 


36  THE  PENTATEUCH 

7,  18-24) ;  a  practical  illustration  of  the  saying  in  i  Sam. 
ii.  30,  "  Them  that  honour  Me  I  will  honour,  and  they  that 
despise  Me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed." 


Chaps,  xv.-xx. 

This  group  of  chapters,  in  which  the  biography  of  Abram 
is  continued  up  to  the  birth  of  Isaac,  contains  some  inter- 
esting and  important  events,  which  we  proceed  to  notice 
in  order. 

We  may  first  note  in  passing  the  mention  of  Eliezer  of 
Damascus.  This  is  one  of  those  incidental  internal  marks 
of  a  true  narrative  which  meet  us  so  often  throughout  the 
Bible.  Josephus,  who  had  access  to  the  ancient  historians, 
Berosus,  Hecataeus,  and  Nicolas  of  Damascus,  whose  works 
are  now  lost,  tells  us  that  Damascus  was  built  by  Uz,  the 
son  of  Aram.  It  was  therefore  in  existence  long  before 
the  time  of  Abram.  Again,  if  it  was  built  by  a  son  of 
Aram,  the  language  of  the  inhabitants  would  naturally  be 
Aramean.  Accordingly,  Eliezer  (God  is  a  help)  is  a  Semetic 
word.  Again,  we  might  be  surprised  to  find  a  man  of 
Damascus  in  Abram's  household  in  Canaan.  But  it  is 
certain  that  Abram  coming  from  Charran  had  passed  by 
Damascus,  and  the  tradition  recorded  by  Nicolas  of 
Damascus  was  that  "  Abram,  an  immigrant  from  Chaldea, 
reigned  for  a  while  in  Damascus."  Josephus  also  affirms 
that  a  village  in  the  country  round  Damascus  was  still 
called  in  his  day  the  dwelling-place  of  Abram.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  "Eliezer  of  Damascus"  might  have  been  "born 
in  Abram's  house"  (ver.  3),  while  he  was  sojourning  at 
Damascus,  on  his  way  to  Canaan.  But  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  "  son  of  my  house,"  means  the  same  as  "he  that  is 
born  in  my  house,"  in  Gen.  xvii.  12,  13,  and  not  merely  "one 
of  my  household." 

We  note  next  how  the  great  event  of  the  birth  of  Isaac, 
who  was  to  be  in  a  special  sense  Abram's  seed,  is  drawing 


GENESIS  37 

nearer  and  nearer.  The  promise  of  descendants  had  been 
already  given  (chap.  xii.  2,  7;  xiii.  15,  16).  Now,  when 
Abram's  faith,  tried  by  the  long  delay,  needed  strengthening, 
it  is  repeated  with  additional  sanctions  ;  viz.,  the  curious 
ceremony  of  the  covenant  by  both  parties  passing  between 
the  animals  offered  in  sacrifice  (Gen.  xv.  9-17) ;  the  covenant 
of  circumcision  in  chap.  xvii.  ;  the  further  revelation  of  time 
and  circumstance  in  chap.  xv.  13-16  ;  the  express  assurance 
in  chap.  xvii.  15-21,  that  Sarai  should  be  the  mother  of 
Abram's  seed ;  and  the  change  of  Abram's  name  to  Abraham, 
and  of  Sarai  to  Sarah  "^  (chap.  xvii.  5,  1 5). 

In  the  enumeration  of  the  nations  whose  land  was  to  be 
given  to  Abraham's  seed  (Gen.  xv.  18-21),  we  may  notice 
an  indication  of  the  great  antiquity  of  the  document,  from 
the  fact  that  some  of  the  nations  were  either  nearly  or 
wholly  extinct  at  the  time  of  the  Exodus.  The  Kenizzites,  or 
Kenezites,  are  only  known  from  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephun- 
neh  the  Kenezite  (Joshua  xiv.  14),  and  his  brother  Othniel 
(Joshua  XV.  17),  and  do  not  appear  to  have  had  any  territory 
in  the  time  of  Moses.  The  Kadmonites  are  mentioned 
nowhere  else  ;  the  Rephaims  were  nearly  annihilated  by 
the  Elamite  invasion,  though  there  was  still  a  remnant  of 
them  remaining  till  the  days  of  David.  At  the  time  of  the 
Exodus,  the  enumeration  of  the  nations  of  Canaan  was 
"  Amorites,  Canaanites,  Hittites,  Perizzites,  Hivites,  and 
Jebusites"  (Exod.  xxxiv.  11). 

Chap.  xvi.  is  remarkable  for  the  birth  of  Ishmael,  the 
ancestor  of  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  whose  character  down  to 
the  present  day  exactly  corresponds  with  the  prophetic 
description  here  given  of  Ishmael,  "  He  shall  be  a  wild 
man,  his  hand  will  be  against  every  man,  and  every  man's 
hand  against  him"  (xvi.  12).  The  expression  by  which  the 
untamable  character  of  the  Bedouin  is  expressed  is  a  very 
vivid  one,  "  a  wild  ass  among  men."     The  wild  ass  of  the 

*  The  ethnology  of  Abram — "  high-father,"  and  Abraham,  "  father 
of  a  muhitude  " — has  been  already  given ;  that  of  Sarai  is  doubtful.  Some 
interpret  it  "quarrelsome"  (Gesenius,  Ewald,  &c.),  others  "imperious" 
(Fiirst),  others  "God  is  chief"  (Siraonis).     Sarah  means  "princess." 


38  THE  PENTATEUCH 

desert  is  remarkable  for  its  beauty,  strength,  swiftness,  and 
above  all,  its  restless,  unbridled,  and  untamable  disposition. 
The  whole  chapter  is  a  faithful  representation  of  the  manners 
and  opinions  of  the  time.  The  evils  of  polygamy  stand  out 
in  clear  relief  in  this  and  numerous  other  narratives  of  the 
lives  of  Old  Testament  worthies,  Jacob,  David,  Solomon, 
and  others,  and  it  should  make  us  deeply  thankful  that 
our  lot  is  cast  in  the  full  light  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  in 
which  the  original  law  of  marriage  (Gen.  ii.  24)  is  brought 
back  to  its  primeval  sanctity,  by  the  authority  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  (Matt.  xix.  4-6),  and  woman  restored  to  her 
proper  place  as  the  partner  of  man. 

The  destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain  is  another 
great  incident  in  the  life-time  of  Abraham  ;  an  incident  of 
undying  interest,  and  reading  a  lesson  as  important  to  the 
present  generation  of  men  as  it  was  to  that  in  which  it 
took  place.  The  cause  of  this  terrible  catastrophe,  by 
which  the  four  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  Admah 
and  Zeboim,  were  utterly  destroyed,  and  a  country  pre- 
viously most  fertile,  as  "the  Garden  of  the  Lord,"  was 
rendered  absolutely  barren  and  desolate  to  this  day,  was 
the  gross  wickedness  and  abominable  vices  of  the  whole 
population.  From  that  remarkable  and  touching  narrative 
in  chap,  xviii.,  which  represents  Abraham  as  pleading  with 
God  to  spare  Sodom,  it  appears  that  there  were  not  ten 
righteous  men  in  the  whole  city.  The  whole  population 
was  hopelessly  sunk  in  iniquity.  Their  conduct  as  described 
in  chap.  xix.  fully  bears  out  the  charge.  The  righteous 
Judge  of  the  whole  earth  decreed  therefore  their  utter 
destruction,  that  they  might  be  an  example  to  all  that  after 
should  Hve  ungodly  (2  Peter  ii.  6). 

The  exact  manner  of  this  terrible  overthrow  is  not  clear. 
The  language  in  which  it  is  described  is  merely,  "  The  Lord 
rained  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  brimstone  and  fire  from 
the  Lord  out  of  heaven."  But  it  is  probable  that  here  as 
elsewhere,  natural  causes  were  used  by  the  God  of  nature 
to  bring  about  His  purpose.  From  the  accounts  of  travellers, 
Seetzen,  Robinson,  de  Saulcy,  and  others,  it  appears  that  the 


GENESIS  39 

whole  region  contains  strong  evidences  of  volcanic  action, 
and  of  its  frequent  accompaniment,  earthquakes.*  Sulphur 
and  bitumen  are  also  found  in  some  quantity.  It  is  easy 
to  conceive  a  violent  volcanic  eruption  pouring  down  a 
torrent  of  burning  lava  upon  the  devoted  cities  ;  and  the 
existence  of  inflammable  bitumen  in  large  quantities,  per- 
haps forming  the  material  of  their  buildings,  would  add 
fierceness  to  the  flames.  Perhaps,  too,  a  violent  thunder- 
storm with  terrific  lightning  accompanied  the  eruption,  and 
assisted  the  incendiary  fires.  That  fire  was  the  agent  of 
destruction,  not  water,  all  the  accounts  agree,  and  therefore 
the  notion  entertained  by  some  that  the  destruction  of  the 
cities  was  caused  by  a  sudden  rise  of  the  water  of  the 
Jordan,  which  then  for  the  first  time  formed  the  Dead  Sea, 
is  as  inconsistent  with  the  historical  testimony  of  sacred  and 
profane  writers,  as  it  is  with  scientific  probability. 

Another  remarkable  feature  in  the  locality  is  the  exist- 
ence of  a  mountain  called  Usdom,  z>.,  Sodom,  the  main 
body  of  which  is  "a  solid  mass  of  rock-salt"  (Rob.  B.  R., 
vol.  ii.  p.  io8).  This  at  once  explains  the  incident  of  Lot's 
wife  becoming  "a  pillar  of  salt."  Neglecting  the  warning 
of  the  angel  (ver.  17),  "Escape  for  thy  life  ;  look  not  behind 
thee."  She  foolishly  lingered,  and  looked  back  ;  perhaps 
thinking  of  her  home  and  her  property  in  flames,  when  a 
mass  of  the  moving  salt  suddenly  enveloped  her,  and  form- 
ing itself  into  a  column,  such  as  is  actually  seen  on  the  spot 
at  the  present  day,t  held  her  in  its  grasp.  She  had  become 
a  pillar  of  salt.  The  exact  locality  of  the  cities  is  difficult  to 
determine.  Mr.  de  Saulcy  speaks  positively  of  traces  of  a 
former  city  on  the  south-west  end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  near  the 
mountain  Usdom,  and  identifies  the  neighbouring  Zunwirah 
with  Zoar,  whose  ancient  name  was  Bela  (Gen.  xiv.  2).  But 
this  is  not  accepted  by  Robinson  or  by  Sir  George  Grove  in  the 

*  "  Like  the  earthquake  at  Pompeii  which  preceded  the  eruption  of 
Vesuvius"  ("Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p,  283). 

f  "  To  this  day  splitting  off  in  pillars  which  show  a  rude  resemblance 
to  the  human  form"  ("Diet,  of  Bible,"  Zoar).  Compare  "Sinai  and 
Palestine,"  pp.  287^  288. 


40  TBE  PENTATEUCH 

"Dictionary  of  the  Bible."  There  are  strong  reasons  for 
believing  that  Zoar,  a  Moabite  city,  was  situated  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  Zunwira  is  not  the  Arabic 
form  of  Zoar.  Sir  George  Grove  thinks  the  cities  lay  on 
the  north  of  the  Dead  Sea,  where  they  would  be  visible 
from  the  "  mountain  east  of  Bethel "  (Gen.  xii.  8  ;  xiii.  3), 
from  whence  Lot  "lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  beheld  all  the 
plain  of  the  Jordan"  (Gen.  xiii.  10).  Others  think  that  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  Dead  Sea,  which  differs  in  some 
respects  from  the  other  portion,*  was  dry  land  before  the 
earthquake  and  volcanic  eruptions  which  destroyed  the  cities 
took  place,  and  that  Sodom  was  situated  on  it.  Segor, 
Zoar,  would  then  be  close  to  it  on  the  east  side  of  the  sea. 
But  no  certainty  can  be  arrived  at  without  some  additional 
light. 

Adverting  next  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  lessons  taught 
in  these  chapters  we  select  one  out  of  several. 

How  immensely  striking  it  is  in  the  midst  of  these  nar- 
ratives of  patriarchal  life  nearly  4000  years  ago  to  light 
upon  the  great  Christian  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 
"  He  believed  in  the  Lord,  and  He  counted  it  to  him  for 
righteousness."  We  turn  to  the  evangelical  teaching  of  the 
great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  near  2000  years  later,  and  we 
find  him  taking  this  identical  text  and  proving  from  it  that 
man's  righteousness  before  God  does  not  come  of  the  works 
of  the  law  but  of  faith  (Rom.  iv.) ;  proving  from  it  that  the 
Gospel  was  before  the  law,  and  that  the  promises  are  to  the 
whole  human  race,  and  not  to  the  Jews  only  (Gal.  iii.  7-9), 
and  could  not  be  abrogated  by  the  law.  And  so  this  single 
verse,  which  to  a  superficial  eye  seems  to  touch  Abraham 
only,  turns  out  to  be  a  momentous  lesson  concerning  every 
soul  of  men  of  all  ages  and  of  all  races,  and  conveying  to 
ourselves  a  truth  upon  which  hinges  our  salvation  and  all 

*  Chiefly  in  the  vast  difference  of  depth ;  that  of  the  northern  part 
being  1300  feet,  while  that  of  the  southern  extremity,  south  of  the  g^eat 
promontory  projecting  from  the  eastern  shore,  is  only  13  feet  (Stanley, 
"Sinai  and  Palestine,"  p.  283).  Stanley  suggests  that  this  may  have 
been  the  Vale  of  Siddim. 


GENESIS  41 

our  hopes  for  time  and  for  eternity.  A  more  striking 
evidence  of  the  Divine  character  of  the  Scriptures  can 
hardly  be  conceived. 


Chaps,  xxi.— xxii. 

The  great  event  in  chap.  xxi.  is  the  birth  of  Isaac,  the  child 
of  promise,  and  the  great  lesson  taught  us,  for  the  strengthen- 
ing of  our  faith,  and  encouraging  of  our  patience  unto  the 
end,  is  the  faithfulness  of  God  to  His  promise.  God  cannot 
lie.  What  He  has  spoken  He  will  accomplish  in  due  time. 
Hindrances  and  obstacles  may  arise,  unexpected  delays  may 
intervene,  difficulties  looking  hke  impossibilities  may  bar  the 
way,  but  God's  promise  will  not  fail :  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  the  word  of  God  shall  not  pass  away.  Our 
faith  should  lay  fast  hold  of  this  truth,  as  Abraham's  did,  and 
by  it  our  whole  conduct  should  be  guided. 

Note  next  the  incident  in  chapter  xxi.  which  occurred  at 
the  weaning  of  Isaac.  Ishmael,  who  was  now  a  lad  of  four- 
teen or  fifteen  years  of  age,  instead  of  sharing  his  father's 
joy  and  thankfulness  at  the  birth  of  Isaac,  and  recognising 
the  hand  of  God,  looked  on  and  mocked  the  aged  mother  ; 
the  son  bom  out  of  season,  the  father's  pride,  as  shown  in  the 
great  feast  which  he  made  on  the  occasion  of  the  child's 
weaning,  were  all  turned  into  ridicule  by  the  son  of  the  bond- 
woman. Very  likely  Ishmael,  of  whom  two  years  before 
Abraham  had  said,  "  O  that  Ishmael  might  live  before  Thee  ! " 
(xvii.  18),  had  been  less  fondled  by  his  father  since  Isaac's 
birth,  and  feelings  of  jealousy  and  disappointment  rankled 
in  his  bosom.  Anyhow  Sarah  saw  him  mocking,  her  anger 
was  roused,  and  she  insisted  on  the  dismissal  of  Hagar  and 
her  son,  "  Cast  out  this  bondwoman  and  her  son.  For  the 
son  of  this  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with  my  son,  even 
with  Isaac,"  and  so  Ishmael  went  forth  into  the  desert  in 
anticipation  of  his  destiny  to  be  "  a  wild  man." 

Now  notice  first  how  intensely  natural  all  this  is.  The 
jealousies  and  contentions   between   the  sons  of  different 


42  THE  PENTATEUCH 

mothers  in  the  home  bHghted  by  polygamy ;  the  cori" 
temptuous  hatred  of  the  inferior  wife  by  the  mistress  of  the 
family  whose  feminine  feelings  are  ruffled  by  the  existence 
of  a  rival  in  her  husband's  affections  ;  the  perplexity  of  the 
father  who  is  torn  different  ways  by  conflicting  duties  and 
affections  !  No  picture  can  be  more  true  to  nature  than 
that  which  is  here  drawn  with  such  simplicity  and  power, 
and  which  at  the  same  time,  I  had  almost  said  unintention- 
ally, teaches  us  such  important  lessons  on  the  economy  of 
social  and  family  life. 

But  what  above  all  is  to  be  noted  is  the  far-reaching  and 
unexpected  lesson  drawn  from  this  history  by  the  inspired 
teacher  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  St.  Paul  is  dealing 
with  the  bigoted  and  blinded  Jews,  who  in  their  servile 
attachment  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  rejected  the  glorious 
liberty  wherewith  in  the  Gospel  Christ  makes  us  free.  And 
he  convicts  them  out  of  the  law  itself.  "  For,"  says  he,  "  it 
is  written  that  Abraham  had  two  sons,  the  one  by  a  bond- 
woman, the  other  by  a  freewoman.  But  what  saith  the 
Scripture  ?  Cast  out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son  ;  for  the 
son  of  the  bondwoman  shall  not  be  heir  with  the  son  of  the 
freewoman."  And  then  with  regard  to  Ishmael  mocking,  there 
comes  the  deep  drawn  exposition,  "As  he  that  was  born 
after  the  flesh  {i.e.  Ishmael)  persecuted  him  that  was  born 
after  the  spirit  {i.e.  Isaac),  even  so  it  is  now."  "The  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God,"  and  therefore  against  the 
children  of  God.  "  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  to  him,"  and  so 
it  must  always  be  the  case  that  there  is  an  antagonism  be- 
tween the  carnal  and  the  spiritual  mind  ;  that  the  carnal 
reason  cannot  understand  or  appreciate  the  deep  things  of 
God;  that  what  God  reveals,  man,  unless  taught  of  God, 
rejects  ;  that  whom  God  loves  the  unregenerate  man  hates 
or  despises  ;  that  the  rejection  and  crucifixion  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  by  the  unbelieving  Jews  is  the  same  spirit  as  that 
which  from  age  to  age  persecuted  those  who  believed  in 
Jesus.  And  then  comes  the  earnest  exhortation  to  all  the 
servants  of  Christ,  "  Stand  fast  therefore  in  the  liberty  where- 


GENESIS  43 

with  Christ  has  made  us  free,  and  be  not  entangled  again 
in  the  yoke  of  bondage"  (Gal.  iv.  21  ;  v.  i).  Such  is  the 
teaching  of  this  remarkable  historical  allegory. 

It  may  be  well  to  mention  with  regard  to  the  age  of  Ish- 
mael  that  the  term  "child"  in  Gen.  xxi.  14,  15,  16,  is  rather 
misleading,  and  does  not  properly  express  the  Hebrew  word, 
yeled.  In  Gen.  iv.  23  ;  i  Kings  xii.  8,  10,  &c.,  it  is  rightly 
rendered  a  young  7nan^  young  men.  In  Gen.  xxxvii.  30  ; 
xlii.  22,  it  is  applied  to  Joseph,  who  was  then  seventeen  years 
old,  and  so  in  many  other  places.  In  like  manner  the  other 
word  applied  to  Ishmael  {iiliar)^  and  rendered  lad  in  vers.  12, 
17,  18,  19,  is  commonly  applied  to  youths  and  young  men. 
The  apparent  helplessness  of  Ishmael  arose  not  from  his 
being  a  child^  but  from  the  want  of  water,  which  often  kills 
people  in  the  wilderness."*  There  is  a  touch  of  historic 
accuracy  in  the  statement  that  Abraham  put  the  bottle  of 
water  on  the  shoulder  of  his  Egyptian  handmaid,  for  the 
Egyptians  always  carried  heavy  burdens  on  their  shoulders. 

The  transaction  between  Abraham  and  Abimelech  in  the 
matter  of  the  well,  and  the  oath  taken  by  each  of  them,  and 
the  seven  ewe  lambs  given  to  Abimelech  by  Abraham  as  a 
witness  that  the  well  belonged  to  Abraham,  is  also  a  life-like 
picture  of  primitive  wilderness  life,  where  cattle  were  the 
chief  source  of  wealth,  and  the  possession  of  water  the  chief 
necessary,  and  consequently  the  right  of  access  to  particular 
wells  one  chief  source  of  strife  (Gen.  xiii.  7,  10  ;  xxvi.  20). 
A  very  similar  transaction  recurred  between  Isaac  and 
Abimelech  (xxvi.  26-33).  As  regards  the  name  Beersheba 
it  may  be  rendered  either.  The  well  of  the  oath,  or  The  well 
of  seven,  with  reference  to  the  seven  ewe  lambs.  St.  Jerome 
speaks  of  seven  wells. 

*  An  interesting  account  of  the  danger  in  a  waterless  wilderness  of 
missing  the  spring,  in  Lepsius's  "Letters  from  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  and 
Peninsula  of  Sinai,"  pp.  279-286,  has  many  features  of  striking  re- 
semblance to  this  narrative,  especially  in  the  possibility  of  being  very 
near  a  spring  without  knowing  it. 


44  THE  PENTATEUCH 


Chaps,  xxii.— xxiii. 

Abraham's  natural  character  is  scarcely  less  remarkable 
than  his  religious.  The  prudence  and  skill  with  which  he 
acquired,  under  God's  blessing,  great  wealth  and  power,  so 
as  to  be  looked  upon  as  "  a  great  prince  "  in  the  land  of  his 
sojourn — the  uprightness  and  magnanimity  and  independence 
of  his  dealings  with  kings  and  chieftains,  the  courage  and 
capacity  with  which  at  a  moment's  notice  he  armed  his  300 
trained  servants,  and  pursued  and  routed  Chedor-la-omer 
and  his  allies,  and  rescued  Lot  and  recovered  all  the  spoil 
which  the  four  kings  had  taken — all  this  marks  him  as  a 
man  of  commanding  intellect  and  great  force  of  character. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Abraham's  religious  character,  as 
set  forth  in  his  most  interesting  life,  and  the  particular  lesson 
which  that  life  was  to  teach  the  servants  of  God  in  all  ages, 
was  Faith.  "  Faithful  Abraham  "  (Gal.  iii.  9)  is  the  designa- 
tion of  him  given  by  St.  Paul.  Therefore  his  faith  was  to 
be  tried  and  proved  in  divers  crucial  ways.  First  of  all  he 
was  called  to  leave  his  father's  house,  and  his  native  land, 
and  his  kindred,  to  go  forth  into  a  land  which  God  would 
show  him  (Gen.  xii.  i),  and  "He  went  forth,  not  knowing 
whither  he  went"  (Heb.  xi.  8).  He  was  promised  the  pos- 
session of  the  land  of  Canaan  for  his  inheritance,  and  he 
was  content  to  sojourn  in  it,  year  after  year,  as  a  stranger 
and  pilgrim,  dwelling  in  tents,  not  having  so  much  land  of  his 
own  as  to  set  his  foot  on  (Acts  vii.  5),  without  a  word  of  doubt 
or  of  impatience.  He  was  promised  a  posterity  as  numerous 
as  the  stars  of  heaven  and  the  sand  upon  the  sea-shore, 
and  though  he  continued  childless  till  he  was  one  hundred 
years  old,  he  never  doubted  that  the  promise  would  be  ful- 
filled. But  now  a  sorer  trial  of  his  faith  than  any  that  had 
gone  before  was  prepared  for  him.  The  child  of  promise 
had  been  born.  He  had  passed  safely  through  the  happy 
days  of  early  youth,  and  was  probably  just  reaching  the 
state  of  manhood.  We  may  guess  that  he  was  not  much 
under  or  over  20.      Life  was  just  opening  up  before  him. 


GENESIS  45 

And  as  his  father  watched  his  growth  "in  wisdom  and 
stature"  (see  Gen.  xviii.  19),  and  called  to  mind  continually 
the  promises  which  Isaac  was  heir  to — the  rich  inheritance 
of  Canaan — descendants  countless  in  number — and  a  bless- 
ing which  seemed  to  expand  beyond  the  widest  grasp  of 
human  ambition  and  desire  ;  and  as  to  all  this  was  added 
the  fondness  of  a  father's  heart  for  the  child  of  his  old  age  ; 
we  can  imagine  how  dear  Isaac  was  to  Abraham,  and  how 
entirely  the  old  man's  heart  was  wrapped  up  in  the  present 
and  future  prosperity  of  his  only  son. 

One  night  when  Abraham  had  retired  to  rest,  and  the  deep 
stillness  of  night  was  all  around  him,  he  was  roused  by  a 
voice  calling  him  by  name  "Abraham,"  just  as  some  700 
years  after  the  same  voice  called  Samuel.  He  recognised 
it  as  the  voice  of  the  Lord  who  had  so  often  spoken  to  him, 
and  answered,  "  Behold,  here  I  am."  The  voice  proceeded, 
"  Take  now  thy  son,  thine  only  son,  whom  thou  lovest,  even 
Isaac,  and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah,  and  offer  him 
there  for  a  burnt  offering,  upon  one  of  the  mountains  which 
I  will  tell  thee  of."  What !  part  with  my  beloved  son,  my 
chief  treasure,  the  joy  and  support  of  my  age  !  Ishmael  is 
gone  from  me,  and  now  must  Isaac  go  to  ?  And  what  will 
become  of  all  the  promises  ?  How  shall  my  seed  inherit  the 
land  of  promise ?  How  shall  I  become  a  mighty  nation? 
How  shall  all  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed  in  me,  if  he  in 
whom  I  was  told  my  seed  should  be  called,  is  cut  off  in  his 
youth  ?  And  by  my  own  hand  !  Am  I,  by  one  blow,  to 
destroy  all  those  hopes  which  have  been  the  support  and  joy 
of  my  heart,  through  so  many  trying  years  ?  Why  did  I  leave 
my  native  land  to  come  to  this  distant  Canaan  ?  Why  have 
I  been  a  stranger  and  a  pilgrim  in  the  midst  of  strange 
people  ?  Why  have  I  been  so  long  without  any  settled  home, 
without  an  acre  of  land  that  I  could  call  my  own  ?  if  now  by 
mine  own  act  I  am  to  blot  out  that  future  glory  of  my  race, 
and  have  nothingness  for  my  sole  inheritance. 

Some  such  thoughts  as  these  must  have  passed  through 
Abraham's  mind,  as  he  tossed  upon  his  bed  in  perplexity, 
and  sorrow,  and  dismay.     But  the  sacred  narrative  only  tells 


46  THE  PENTATEUCH 

us  the  result  with  that  marvellous  simplicity  which  charac- 
terises the  Scripture.  "Abraham  rose  up  early  in  the 
morning  and  saddled  his  ass,  and  took  two  of  his  young 
men  with  him,  and  Isaac  his  son,  and  clave  the  wood  for 
the  burnt  offering,  and  rose  up,  and  went  to  the  place  of 
which  God  had  told  him."  With  no  less  beautiful  simplicity 
is  the  rest  of  the  story  told  ;  the  journey  to  the  place  of 
sacrifice  ;  the  innocent  inquiry  of  Isaac,  "  Where  is  the 
lamb  for  the  burnt  offering  ?  "  the  earnest  cry  of  the  angel  of 
the  Lord,  "  Abraham,  Abraham,  lay  not  thine  hand  upon  the 
lad  ; "  the  substitution  of  the  ram  caught  by  his  horns  in  the 
thicket ;  the  gracious  recognition  of  Abraham's  loving  obedi- 
ence in  the  renewed  and  intensified  blessing ;  and  the 
return  to  Beersheba,  so  different  from  the  outward  journey, 
all  follow  in  due  order,  and  make  this  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable chapters  in  the  Bible.     See  Heb.  xi.  17-19. 

One  or  two  points  require  further  notice.  The  A.V.  of 
ver.  I,  "God  did  tempt  Abraham,"  is  very  misleading  and 
apt  to  convey  an  entirely  false  meaning.  The  Hebrew  word 
means  "  to  put  any  thing  or  person  to  the  test,"  "  to  try,"  or 
"prove,"  as  the  R.V.  renders  the  word  here.  The  Greek, 
Tretpd^o),  has  exactly  the  same  meaning.  The  Latin, 
fepito,  which  probably  led  to  the  use  of  "to  tempt,"  as 
the  English  rendering,  means  to  "  examine  by  the  touch,"  in 
medical  language  "  to  examine  with  a  probe,"  "  to  try  or  put 
to  the  test,"  and  this  is  exactly  the  meaning  of  the  word 
here.  God  did  not  tempt  Abraham  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  tempter  tempts  men  to  commit  sin,  but  he  put  his  faith 
to  a  test  or  trial  out  of  which  he  came  triumphant.  Just  so 
St.  Peter  speaks  of  the  manifold  temptations  of  Christians,  sent 
to  them  that  the  trial  of  their  faith  being  much  more  precious 
than  of  gold  that  perisheth,  might  be  found  unto  praise 
and  honour  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ  (i  Pet. 
i.  6,  7),  where  the  Latin  words  are  tentationes  and  j)robatio. 

Here,  too,  we  learn  by  the  way  a  very  important  lesson 
of  human  life,  and  specially  of  Christian  life,  that  it  is  not 
enough  that  virtues  and  graces  exist  as  it  were  in  embryo  in 
the  heart,  but  they  must  be  brought  into  actual  existence  by 


GENESIS  47 

the  contact  of  difficulties  and  opposition.  Faith  must  be  put 
to  the  proof  by  contact  with  things  provocative  of  doubt  and 
unbehef ;  patience  must  be  put  to  the  proof  by  having  to 
suffer  long  ;  charity  must  meet  with  unkindness,  enmity, 
and  injury,  and  still  maintain  its  loving  aspect ;  courage 
must  be  tested  by  its  actual  contact  with  danger ;  and 
generally  virtue  must  reveal  itself  by  the  trampling  under 
foot  of  vice.  For  so  the  Lord  Jesus  learned  obedience  by 
the  things  which  He  suffered  (Heb.  v.  9).  So  are  the  mani- 
fold Christian  virtues  strengthened  and  perfected  by  use  ;  so 
is  God  glorified  in  His  faithful  servants  ;  so  is  the  Church 
edified,  and  the  world  converted,  by  the  spectacle  of  a  fruit- 
ful faith  bringing  forth  under  adverse  circumstances  the 
fruits  of  truth  and  goodness.  So  are  the  suffering  saints 
laying  up  for  themselves  a  harvest  of  praise  and  honour 
and  glory,  at  the  great  judgment  day  of  Christ. 

We  may  also  observe  that  the  command  to  offer  his  son 
as  a  burnt-offering  to  God  would  not  appear  so  strange  to 
Abraham  as  it  would  to  us.  In  Abraham's  time  human 
sacrifice  was  probably  already  in  vogue  in  Phoenicia  and 
Syria,  as  we  see  it  later  in  the  worship  of  Moloch,  in  the 
offering  of  Jephtha's  daughter,  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  King 
of  Moab's  eldest  son  (2  Kings  iii.  27),  in  the  allusion  in 
Micah  vi.  7.  We  need  to  be  continually  reminded  that  we 
must  not  overlook  the  difference  in  morals,  manners,  and 
opinions  between  the  nineteenth  century  B.C.  and  the  nine- 
teenth century  A.D.,  if  we  would  form  a  right  judgment  of 
things  contained  in  Holy  Scripture. 

The  name  "  Moriah"  occurs  only  once  more  in  Scripture, 
viz.,  in  2  Chron.  iii.  i,  where  we  are  told  that  Solomon  built 
the  temple  of  the  Lord  on  "  Mount  Moriah."  It  seems  pro- 
bable that  the  typical  sacrifice  of  Isaac  was  offered  up  on 
the  very  hill  where  afterwards  the  altar  of  the  Lord  stood, 
and  on  which  Jesus  Christ  was  crucified  and  rose  again  from 
the  dead.  Some  writers,  but  with  far  less  probability,  identify 
it  with  "  the  plain  of  Moreh  "  (Gen.  xii.  6),  and  think  Mount 
Gerizim  was  the  scene  of  Isaac's  sacrifice.  The  distance 
from  Beersheba  is  too  great. 


48  THE  PENTATEUCH 

The  chapter  closes  with  a  genealogical  notice  of  Nahor, 
Abraham's  brother,  the  object  of  which  is  to  introduce 
Rebekah,  Isaac's  future  wife. 

Chap,  xxiii.  brings  us  to  the  death  of  Sarah,  at  the  age 
of  129  years,  thirty- seven  years  after  the  birth  of  Isaac 
("  Speaker's  Commentary "),  where  we  may  note  the  con- 
tinued longevity  of  the  human  race.  Sarah  died  at  Kirjath- 
arba,  the  city  of  Arba,  otherwise  Hebron,  one  of  the  oldest 
cities  in  the  world,  having  been  built  seven  years  before 
Zoar  in  Egypt  (Num.  xiii.  22),  z>.,  probably  before  B.C.  2000. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  Hebron  or  Kirjath-arba  is  the  original 
name.  In  the  time  of  the  occupation  of  Canaan  by  the 
Israelites,  it  was  possessed  by  the  sons  of  Anak,  and  called 
Kirjath-arba,  from  "Arba  the  father  of  Anak"  (Josh.  xv. 
13  ;  xiv.  13-15).  But  there  are  some,  though  not  decisive, 
reasons  for  thinking  that  Hebron  was  the  earlier  name. 
The  burial  of  Sarah  brings  before  us  a  singularly  interesting 
scene  in  the  negotiations  between  Abraham  and  the  sons 
of  Heth  for  a  burial-ground.  We  have  'already  noticed 
that  Abraham  during  his  long  sojourn  of  some  sixty  years 
in  Canaan,  had  not  acquired  so  much  land  as  to  set  his 
foot  on.  But  now  that  Sarah  was  dead  a  place  of  burial 
which  should  be  his  own  property  became  a  necessity. 
Accordingly,  in  an  assembly  duly  convened  of  that  branch 
of  the  Hittites  who  had  possession  of  Hebron,  Abraham 
stood  up,  and,  with  much  dignity  and  courtesy  combined, 
stated  his  case  to  the  children  of  the  land.  His  request 
was  that  Ephron  the  Hittite,  the  owner  of  the  field  in 
which  the  cave  of  Machpelah  was  situated,  should  hand 
over  to  him  the  possession  of  the  cave  at  a  full  valuation. 
With  no  less  courtesy  Ephron  replied,  and,  after  the  usual 
oriental  compliments,  Ephron's  field,  with  the  cave,  and 
all  the  timber  in  the  field,  was  made  over  to  Abraham 
for  a  possession  for  400  shekels  of  silver,  and  the  bargain 
was  ratified  by  the  consent  of  all  the  citizens,  in  the  gate 
of  the  city  assembled  ;  and  then  Abraham  buried  his  wife 
in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  where  her  body  rests  to  this 
very  day.     There,  too,  Abraham  himself  was  buried  (Gen. 


GENESIS  49 

XXV.  9,  lo)  ;  there  too  Isaac  and  Rebekah  ;  there  Jacob 
buried  Leah  ;  and  there  finally  Jacob  himself  was  laid  in 
obedience  to  his  dying  charge  (Gen.  xlix.  29-32  ;  1.  12,  13). 
This  wonderful  burial-place  is  held  in  the  highest  reverence 
by  Mussulmen  at  the  present  day — the  whole  enclosure  is 
considered  holy  ground  ;  no  Christian  is  allowed  to  enter 
it  ;  but  by  a  special  Firman  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  allowed 
to  do  so  accompanied  by  Dean  Stanley,  who  has  left  a 
most  interesting  account  of  the  visit  in  his  "Sermons  in 
the  East."  Surely  there  is  not  another  such  sepulchre  in 
the  world  as  that  which  contains  the  remains  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  further  one 
or  two  other  characteristic  features  in  the  foregoing  narra- 
tive. First  we  see  the  profound  respect  which  Abraham's 
character  and  mode  of  life  had  inspired  among  these  Hit- 
tites.  "  Hear  us,  my  Lord,"  they  say,  "  thou  art  a  mighty 
prince  among  us.  In  the  choice  of  our  sepulchres  bury  thy 
dead."  Then  we  see  the  institution  of  property  in  land 
alreading  existing.  The  field  in  question  with  the  cave 
and  the  trees  are  Ephron's,  and  he  receives  the  price  of 
them.  But  the  consent  of  all  the  freemen  of  the  city  seems 
to  have  been  necessary  to  make  the  sale  valid,  and  the 
possession  sure.  Again  we  see  the  existence  of  a  class  of 
merchants  or  traders,  men  who  travelled  from  place  to 
place  with  their  divers  wares,  their  moving  shops,  carried 
probably  by  asses  or  camels,  and  whose  trade  had  led  to 
a  further  step  in  civilisation,  the  use  of  silver  as  the  medium 
of  exchange.  But  the  language  used  (ver.  16)  shows  that 
the  silver  was  not  yet  coined.  The  shekel  was  a  weight, 
and  the  payment  was  made  by  weight.  These  merchants 
were  mostly  Canaanites,  and  this  led  to  "Canaanite"  being 
used  to  mean  a  merchant  (Isa.  xxiii.  2  ;  Job  xli.  6,  &c.), 
somewhat  as  our  English  "milliner"  is  derived  from  "Milan," 
from  whence  the  milliners  of  London  came. 


s.  T. 


50  THE  PENTATEUCH 


Chaps,  xxiv.-xxv.  io.— Isaac's  Marriage. 

This  section  brings  us  to  the  close  of  Abraham's  life.  Its 
last  important  act  is  a  signal  display  of  the  Providence  of 
God,  and  of  Abraham's  pious  sense  of  the  high  mission 
entrusted  to  him,  of  preserving  in  the  world  through  suc- 
cessive ages  the  knowledge  of  the  One  True  and  Living 
God.  The  wisdom  of  God  foresaw  that  the  only  effective 
means  of  doing  this,  was  the  separation  from  the  rest  of 
the  world  of  one  people  to  whom  should  be  entrusted  this 
mission  ;  and  that  the  only  way  of  keeping  such  people 
separate,  was  by  securing  their  marriages  with  women  of 
a  sound  faith.  Hence  Abraham's  care,  as  he  felt  his  own 
end  approaching,  that  Isaac,  his  heir  according  to  promise, 
should  not  marry  a  Hittite,  or  any  other  of  the  daughters 
of  the  land,  but  one  in  whom  heathen  idolatries  had  not 
corrupted  the  heart,  and  stolen  it  away  from  God.  Hence 
the  beautiful  scene,  the  description  of  which  fills  up  the 
whole  of  this  xxivth  chapter :  a  scene  full  of  pathos, 
full  of  the  best  and  purest  sentiments  of  human  nature  ; 
full  too  of  the  mind  and  hand  of  God  working  all  things 
after  the  counsel  of  His  own  will ;  interesting  merely  as  a 
vivid  picture  of  life  and  manners  in  the  eighteenth  century 
before  Christ,  unspeakably  so  when  we  recollect  that  reli- 
gion was  powerfully  affected  through  eighteen  centuries  by 
what  Abraham  then  did,  and  that  we  are  benefited  by  it  to 
this  very  day. 

We  see,  then,  Abraham's  wise  and  pious  care  for  his 
children  and  household  after  him,  that  they  should  keep  the 
way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment  (Gen.  xviii.  19), 
in  this,  that  Isaac  should  not  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of 
the  Canaanites.  He  therefore  sent  his  most  trusted  servant, 
perhaps  Eliezer  of  Damascus,  if  he  was  still  alive,  with  a 
retinue  of  camels  and  attendants,  and  costly  gifts,  to  his  own 
native  country  of  Mesopotamia,  to  Charran  (chaps,  xxix.  4  ; 
xxvii.  43),  the  city  of  his  brother  Nahor,  where  Bethuel, 
Nahor's  son,  was  still  living  with  a  son  and  daughter,  Laban 


GENESIS  51 

and  Rebekah.  He  was  to  ask  Rebekah  in  marriage  for 
Isaac,  but  only  on  this  condition,  that  Rebekah  came  with 
him  to  the  land  of  Canaan.  Isaac  was  on  no  account  to 
return  to  Mesopotamia.  How  faithfully  and  skilfully  his 
servant  fulfilled  his  task,  how  providentially  he  met  the 
damsel  at  the  well,  how  Laban's  covetous  heart  was  influenced 
by  the  sight  of  the  rich  gifts,  and  how  Rebekah,  with  her 
nurse  Deborah,  and  her  attendant  damsels,  riding  on  camels, 
followed  Abraham's  servant ;  with  all  the  graphic  touches 
of  oriental  pastoral  life,  the  slow  journey,  the  cavalcade  of 
camels,  the  rendezvous  at  the  well,  the  many  attendants,  the 
camels  kneeling  for  watering,  the  free  hospitality,  the  rich 
presents,  the  women  vailing  themselves,  the  trusty  nurse,  and 
so  on  ;  how  they  met  Isaac  near  the  well  Lahai-Roi,  where, 
doubtless,  he  had  been  feeding  his  flocks  and  herds,  and 
how  Isaac  brought  her  to  his  mother's  tent  —  the  chief 
woman's  tent  of  the  settlement  —  no  doubt  at  Beersheba, 
which  was  not  far  off";  all  this  is  best  read  in  this  truly 
beautiful  chapter,  with  its  piety  and  truthful  simplicity. 

But  it  has  also  grave  moral  lessons  which  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  in  our  admiration  of  the  charnis  and  skill  of  the 
narrative.  And,  first,  we  have  Abraham's  careful,  far-seeing 
forethought  set  before  us  as  a  model  for  us  to  copy  in  all  the 
affairs  of  life.  Here  was  no  indifference  for  the  interests  of 
religion  after  his  death  ;  no  leaving  it  to  chance,  whether  his 
son  married  a  godly  or  an  ungodly  woman.  He  could  be 
courteous,  and  give  due  honour  to  his  Hittite  neighbours, 
and  deal  with  them  like  a  high-bred  gentleman  in  the  affairs 
of  this  world  ;  but  he  was  not  blind  to  their  heathenish 
opinions  and  their  ungodly  ways,  and  would  not  on  any 
account  that  his  son  should  contract  a  marriage  with  them, 
and  took  steps  accordingly.  We  see,  too,  how  he  treasured 
God's  promises  to  him  in  his  heart,  and  was  influenced  by 
them  in  all  his  conduct.  In  all  this,  Abraham  is  a  model  to 
rich  and  poor  in  this  nineteenth  century,  and  in  our  highly 
civilised  England. 

Then  note  the  admirable  fidelity  and  inflexible  integrity 
of  Abraham's  servant.     Note,  too,  the  single-eyed  fixity  of 


52  THE  PENTATEUCH 

purpose  which  marks  his  whole  conduct.  Not  a  trace  of 
vacillation,  not  a  spark  of  self-indulgence  (vers.  33,  56),  or 
weak  compliance  with  persuasions  from  without.  We  see 
throughout  the  upright  mind,  the  steady  devotion  to  duty  of 
a  good  man.  But  we  see  something  more  than  this.  We 
see  the  source  of  this  strength  of  purpose.  The  foundation 
was  laid  in  prayer.  When  at  the  well  he  had  prayed  to  the 
God  of  Abraham,  "  O  Lord,  send  me  good  speed  this  day" 
(ver.  12),  and  in  the  happy  circumstances  which  had  brought 
Rebekah  to  his  encounter,  he  had  recognised  the  Hand  of 
God  moving  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  and  had  worshipped 
and  given  thanks  (vers.  26,  29).  And  so  now,  when  pressed 
to  stay  a  few  days  after  his  long  journey,  his  purpose  was 
steadfast.  "  Hinder  me  not,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  prospered 
my  way  ;  send  me  away  that  I  may  go  to  my  master "  (ver. 
56),  and  so  "the  servant  took  Rebekah,  and  went  his  way" 
(ver.  61). 

And  so,  after  the  few  months  occupied  by  the  journey  to 
and  fro,  Abraham's  purpose  was  accomplished,  and  he  saw 
his  son  Isaac  happily  united  to  a  virtuous  and  godly  woman. 
"  Keep  us,  we  beseech  Thee,  under  the  protection  of  Thy 
good  Providence  "  (Collect  for  Second  Sunday  after  Trinity), 
is  the  prayer  suggested  by  this  signal  exhibition  of  the  provi- 
dential disposition  of  events. 

And  now  (chap.  xxv.  i-io)  we  are  brought  to  the  close 
of  a  great  life,  perhaps  as  great  a  one  as  has  ever  been  lived 
by  any  child  of  Adam.  It  was  a  life  lived  in  uncivilised 
times,  times  on  which  the  light  of  history  has  not  shone, 
except  that  full  light  shed  upon  them  by  the  Bible.  Abra- 
ham's time  was  spent  among  flocks  and  herds.  He  lived 
a  nomad  life  in  tents,  amidst  constant  wanderings  in  deserts, 
far  from  cities  and  the  busy  haunts  of  men  ;  and  yet  he 
has  left  an  impression  upon  the  whole  civilised  world 
deeper  than  that  of  the  Alexanders  and  Caesars,  and  a  name 
equal  to  that  of  the  very  chiefest  of  earth's  worthies.  The 
secret  of  his  life  was  a  steadfast  faith  in  God,  leading  to  a  life 
of  unwavering  obedience,  according  to  his  light ;  a  life  which 
commanded  alike  the  devoted  love  of  his  household,  and 


GENESIS  53 

the  deep  respect  of  the  heathen  nations,  amongst  whom  he 
hved  ;  and  we  may  add,  the  frequent  mention  of  his  name 
with  praise  by  Christ  our  Lord,  when  He  sojourned  among 
men. 

The  statement  of  Abraham's  burial  by  Isaac  and  Ishmael, 
by  the  side  of  Sarah  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  at  the  good 
old  age  of  175  years,  closes  this  eventful  record. 


Chaps,  xxv.  ii-xxvi.  33.— History  of  Isaac. 

The  central  figure  of  the  history  is  now  Isaac,  but  the 
central  idea  still  is  the  preservation  of  a  pure  race,  and 
through  the  purity  of  the  race  to  preserve  and  keep  alive  the 
pure  faith  of  one  living  and  true  God,  the  Creator  of  heaven 
and  earth.  Isaac  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  man  of  as 
much  strength  of  character  as  his  father  ;  but  still  he  was  a 
godly  man,  and  we  are  told  that  God  blessed  him.  To  him, 
too,  God  renewed  the  promises  he  had  made  to  his  father 
Abraham,  the  promise  of  the  possession  of  Canaan  ;  the  pro- 
mise of  a  seed  as  numerous  as  the  stars  of  heaven  ;  the 
promise  that  in  his  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should 
be  blessed  (xxvi.  3,  4).  Promises,  it  need  not  be  added, 
which  have  been  abundantly  fulfilled. 

The  events  of  Isaac's  life  are  far  less  interesting  than 
those  of  Abraham's.  There  is  the  usual  strife  about  the 
wells  with  Abimelech,  King  of  Gerar ;  the  usual  wanderings 
in  search  of  pasture,  or  under  pressure  of  famine  ;  the  usual 
distrust  of  the  people  of  the  land ;  the  usual  cunning  and 
dissimulation  to  avoid  danger.  But  no  great  events  befall 
in  his  hfe  -  time.  The  birth  of  his  twin  sons  Esau  and 
Jacob  is  an  important  incident  in  the  family  history,  and  the 
coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before  them  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  birth  (xxv.  24-26),  and  in  the  transactions 
of  their  youth,  when  Esau  sold  his  birthright  to  his  younger 
brother  for  a  mess  of  red  pottage  (29-34).  These  both  were 
recorded  in  their  na.mes,/acol>,  the  supplanter,  and  Edom^  red. 
Esau  means  "hairy." 


54  THE  PENTATEUCH 


Chaps,  xxvi.  34-xxviii.  9. 

The  central  idea  of  the  history  of  Abraham's  family  now 
comes  fully  to  the  front,  and  the  narrative  gives  us  a  most 
instructive  picture  of  the  manner  in  which  God's  purposes 
are  worked  out  in  this  evil  world.  It  shows  us  how  good 
men  and  bad  men,  good  actions  and  bad  actions,  intentional 
and  unintentional  conduct,  all  work  together  in  the  most 
wonderful  way  to  bring  about  "the  determinate  counsel  of 
God  ; "  and  how  the  various  agents  in  the  drama  of  this  life 
are  unconsciously  doing  what  the  hand  and  counsel  of  God 
determined  before  to  be  done.     And  yet  their  wills  were  free. 

This  part  of  the  story  begins  by  the  marriage  of  Esau 
to  two  Hittite  wives,  Judith  and  Bashemath,  the  daughters 
apparently  of  two  Hittite  chieftains,  whose  heathenish  ways 
were  a  source  of  constant  grief  and  sorrow  to  both  Isaac 
and  Rebekah  (xxvi.  35  ;  xxviii.  8).  And  here  we  notice  at 
once  Esau's  character,  which  comes  out  in  every  action  of 
his  life.  From  his  early  youth  he  could  not  bear  the  quiet 
innocent  life  of  a  feeder  of  sheep  and  cattle,  but  chose  the 
wild  unrestrained  life  of  the  hunter,  without  home  ties,  and 
living  in  the  field.  Manly,  generous,  thoughtless,  impulsive, 
probably  brave,  he  had  evidently  many  qualities  which 
would  make  him  attractive  and  liked  by  his  friends  ;  but  he 
was  absolutely  without  religious  feelings,  absolutely  without 
any  sense  of  his  position  as  heir  of  Abraham's  blessing,  or 
any  value  of  the  spiritual  blessings  which  belonged  to  him  as 
such.  We  see  this  in  the  heedless,  reckless  way  in  which  he 
sold  his  birthright  for  "a  morsel  of  meat"  (Heb.  xii.  16); 
we  see  it  in  his  marriage  with  "the  daughters  of  Heth" 
(xxvii.  46).  The  flesh  first,  the  spirit,  if  at  all,  second. 
Excitement,  pleasure,  sensual  gratification  uppermost — the 
things  of  God,  and  of  Eternity,  left  to  come  in  where  they 
can,  or  left  out  altogether.  Esau  is  a  sad,  but  most  instruc- 
tive example  of  great  gifts  wasted,  great  opportunities 
irrecoverably  lost  (Heb.  xii.  17)  ;  and  qualities,  good  in 
themselves,  rendered  worse  than  useless  to  their  possessor, 


GENESIS  55 

by  not  being  accompanied  by  the  higher  qualities  which 
should  have  tempered  and  dominated  them.  If  things  had 
depended  upon  Esau,  the  whole  scheme  for  the  preserva- 
tion in  the  world  of  the  knowledge  of  God  by  means  of 
Abraham's  descendants,  would  have  perished  and  come  to 
nought.  The  history  of  the  Edomites  is  a  fitting  sequel  to 
the  life  of  their  ancestor. 

But  to  follow  up  the  progress  of  events.  The  well-known 
scene  of  the  blessing  comes  next.  Isaac  being  old,  probably 
sick,  and  nearly  blind  with  age  (xxvii.  i),  thinks  the  time  is 
come  when  it  is  prudent  for  him  to  ensure  the  giving  of  his 
blessing  to  his  eldest  and  favourite  son  (xxv.  8),  just  as  now, 
under  like  circumstances,  a  man  would  think  it  prudent  to 
make  his  will ;  and  so  he  bid  Esau  take  his  bow  and  arrow 
and  go  out  into  the  field,  and  bring  him  some  venison,  that 
he  might  eat  it  and  give  him  his  blessing  before  he  died. 
Rebekah  heard  it.  She  was  probably  aware  that  Esau  had 
sold  his  birthright  to  Jacob,  and  so  thought  that  Jacob  was 
entitled  to  the  blessing,  and  as  he  was  her  favourite  son  she 
could  not  bear  the  idea  of  his  being  deprived  of  it.  And  so 
with  a  woman's  ready  wit,  but  with  an  unscrupulous  guile, 
which  we  cannot  but  condemn  in  the  fuller  light  of  Christ's 
teaching  (John  i.  47),  she  planned  the  stratagem  by  which 
Isaac  was  deceived,  and  Jacob  received  his  father's  prophetic 
blessing,  which  could  not  be  recalled.  And  now  mark  the 
chain  of  consequences.  Isaac's  weaker  character  had  not 
provided  for  his  son's  marriage  with  a  God-fearing  woman, 
as  Abraham  had  for  his  ;  and  perhaps  Rebekah,  with  a 
mother's  fond  love  for  a  dutiful  and  favourite  child,  would 
hardly  have  had  the  resolution  to  send  Jacob  on  a  long  and 
dangerous  journey.  It  might  have  ended,  therefore,  in  his 
finding  a  wife  among  the  natives  of  the  land,  as  his  brother 
had  done.  But  now  the  success  of  her  scheme,  for  securing 
the  blessing  for  Jacob,  had  brought  a  great  and  pressing 
danger  to  her  door.  Esau's  bitter  wrath  and  resentment  at 
his  brother's  treachery  had  stirred  up  in  his  impulsive  and 
unrestrained  nature  a  violent  hatred  and  thirst  for  revenge 
(xxvii.  41),  which  put  Jacob's  very  life  in  imminent  danger. 


56  THE  PENTATEUCH 

She  must  find  some  excuse  for  sending  him  away,  and  one 
readily  suggested  itself,  which  was  likely  to  influence  Isaac 
(xxvi,  35  ;  xxviii.  8)  and  obtain  his  consent.  Rebekah  said  to 
Isaac,  "  I  am  weary  of  my  life  because  of  the  daughters  of 
Heth  ;  if  Jacob  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Heth,  such 
as  these  which  are  of  the  daughters  of  the  land,  what  good 
shall  my  life  do  me  ?"  and  the  plea  succeeded.  "  Isaac  called 
Jacob  and  blessed  him,  and  charged  him,  and  said  unto 
him.  Thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Canaan. 
Arise,  go  to  Padan-aram,  to  the  house  of  Bethuel  thy 
mother's  father,  and  take  thee  a  wife  from  thence  of  the 
daughters  of  Laban  thy  mother's  brother."  "  So  Isaac  sent 
away  Jacob,  and  he  went  to  Padan-aram,  unto  Laban,  son 
of  Bethuel  the  Syrian,  the  brother  of  Rebekah,  Jacob's  and 
Esau's  mother"  (xxvii.  43,  46;  xxviii.  i,  2,  5). 

How  wonderfully  then  hitherto  has  God's  purpose  been 
worked  out.  Esau's  worldly  imprudence  in  his  marriage, 
his  carelessness  in  selling  his  birthright,  the  feud  between 
the  brothers  on  account  of  their  father's  blessing,  Rebekah's 
deceit  on  behalf  of  her  favourite  son,  Esau's  violent  tempera- 
ment, all  these  in  their  natural  action  and  interaction  have 
brought  about  an  essential  link  in  the  chain  of  God's  Provi- 
dential design  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  viz.,  the  separa- 
tion of  the  race  of  Israel  from  the  idolatrous  races  of 
mankind,  by  Jacob's  removal  to  Padan-aram.  And  yet 
Canaan,  from  whence  he  went  as  a  fugitive,  was  to  be  his 
eventual  inheritance  (xxviii.  3,  4),  according  to  the  promises 
to  his  father  and  his  grandfather,  and  the  same  Providential 
interference  which  took  him  from  Canaan  would  bring  him 
back  again,  as  the  sequel  of  the  history  will  show  us. 

Here  practically  ends  the  history  of  Isaac,  whose  death 
and  burial  by  his  sons  Esau  and  Jacob,  at  the  age  of  180 
years,  is  recorded  in  xxxv.  27-29.  And  we  may  notice  that 
there  is  a  marked  historical  agreement  between  this  long 
silence  about  Isaac,  and  what  we  gather  as  to  his  character 
from  the  foregoing  narrative.  Though  a  godly  man  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  a  man  of  commanding  ability  or 
_.strength  of  character 


GENESIS  57 


Chaps,  xxviii.  io--xxxiii.  20.— The  History  of  Jacob. 

The  sacred  narrative  is  now  concentrated  on  the  eventful 
career  of  Jacob,  hereafter  to  be  called  Israel,  and  to  give  his 
name  to  the  great  Israelite  people,  and  to  the  elect  Israel  of 
God.  We  shall  have  to  contemplate  him  in  a  double  light. 
As  God's  elect  servant,  the  heir  of  God's  most  gracious 
promises,  the  instrument  and  channel  of  conveying  God's 
mercies  to  a  ruined  world,  and  the  type  of  God's  children, 
living  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  in  this  present  life.  But  we 
shall  also  have  to  mark  his  natural  character,  his  faults  and 
their  temporal  consequences,  some  of  the  incidents  of  his 
life,  some  of  the  graphic  touches  which  mark  the  historical 
character  of  the  narrative,  and  distinguish  the  true  repre- 
sentation of  men  and  manners  in  the  sixteenth  century  before 
Christ,  from  an  ideal  picture  of  what  we,  in  the  nineteenth 
century  after  Christ,  think  men  and  manners  ought  to  be. 
The  section  now  under  review  embraces  the  time  from 
Jacob's  departure  from  Beer-sheba  (xxviii.  10),  where,  it 
seems,  Isaac's  tent  was  pitched  at  that  time  (comp.  xxvi.  23- 
25),  till  his  return  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  when  he  pitched 
his  tent  in  what  was  afterwards  called  Samaria — a  period 
thought  to  be  about  40  years  ("  Speaker's  Commentary',"  note 
on  ch.  xxxi.  41),  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  text  of 
Gen.  xxxi.  38,  41  seems  to  make  it  only  about  20  years. 

In  some  respects  the  story  of  Jacob's  journey  is  like  that 
of  Eliezer's,  to  seek  a  wife  for  his  father  Isaac  ;  the  meeting 
Rachel  at  the  well  ;  the  courteous  removal  of  the  stone  from 
the  well's  mouth,  and  the  welcome  given  to  him  in  Laban's 
house,  are  features  similar  to  those  recorded  about  Isaac. 
They  belong  to  the  simple  pastoral  life.  But  in  many  points 
there  is  a  marked  individuality  in  Jacob's  case.  Isaac's 
ambassador,  the  chief  officer  of  his  father's  household,  tra- 
velled with  a  retinue  of  men  and  camels,  and  carried  costly 
gifts  in  his  hands.  Jacob  went  forth  a  lonely  and  destitute 
fugitive  ;  "with  my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan,"  was  his 
.own  description  of  his  solitary  pilgrimage  (Gen.  xxxii.  10), 


58  THE  PENTATEUCH 

and  his  low  estate.     And  how  striking  are  the  prehminaries 
of  the  journey.    The  poor  wanderer  on  his  way  to  Haran, 
coming  as  far  as  Bethel  and  passing  the  night   there   in 
the  open  air  with  a  stone  for  his  pillow  !     But  what  com- 
pensated for  the  bodily  hardship,  in  the  heavenly  visions 
of  that  night !     The  stair  of  approach  to  the  very  presence 
of  God,  the  attendance  of  the  ministering  angels  ascending 
and  descending  between  himself  and  the  Lord  God  Almighty. 
The  gracious  recognition  of  him  as  the  son  of  Isaac  and 
Abraham,  though  he  was  an  outcast  from  his  father's  house  ; 
the  promise  made  on  the  eve  of  his  quitting  his  native  land, 
"  the  land  whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to 
thy  seed  after  thee,  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the 
earth  ;  and  in  thee,  and  in  thy  seed,  shall  all  the  families  of 
the  earth  be  blessed."     The  loving  promise,  so  fast  and  sure, 
"  I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither 
thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land  ;  for  I 
will  not  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee,  until  I  have  done  that 
which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of"  (xxviii.  11-15).     With  such 
heavenly  comforts  as  these,  such  appearances  of  the  loving 
care  and  inexhaustible  grace  of   his    heavenly  father,  all 
earthly  sorrows,  labours,  trials,  difficulties,  must  have  melted 
away,  and  the  weak  dejected  wanderer  must  have  felt  strong 
and  joyful  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  power  of  His  might.     His 
vow  (xxviii.  16-22)  shows  how  deeply  he  was  moved. 

Well !  and  in  the  strength  of  this  vision  Jacob  started  on 
his  wearisome  journey.  No  details  of  it  are  given  us,  only 
that  in  due  time  "he  came  into  the  land  of  the  people  of 
the  East,"  i.e.,  of  Mesopotamia,  which  lay  east  of  Palestine. 
This  phrase,  which  in  later  times  designated  Arabia,  seems 
to  mark  the  great  antiquity  of  this  narrative,  when  the 
kindred  of  the  two  branches  of  Terah's  family,  Nahor  and 
Abraham,  the  Eastern  and  the  Western,  was  still  fresh  in 
the  minds  of  men.  As  regards  the  scene  at  the  well  (xxix. 
2-10),  it  has  been  inferred  that  the  well  was  Laban's  pro- 
perty, and  that  the  stone  which  covered  the  mouth  of  it 
could  only  be  removed  by  one  of  his  shepherds.  Accord- 
ingly, as  ver.  3  explains  it,  the  custom  was  for  the  flocks  of 


GENESIS  59 

the  different  flock  owners  to  be  gathered  together  round  the 
well,  and  then  for  the  stone  to  be  rolled  away  till  all  the  flocks 
were  watered,  and  then  to  be  replaced.     But,  as  the  narra- 
tive shows,  the  stone  might  not  be  rolled  away  till  Laban's 
flock  came,  and  had  been  first  watered  (vers.  8,  lo).     So 
Jacob,  instead  of  leaving  the  stone  to  be  rolled  away  by  one 
of  the  shepherds,  rolled  it  away  himself  for  Rachel,  and  then 
watered  her  flock.     The  narrative  goes  on  to  relate  the 
recognition  of  Jacob  by  Laban  as  his  sister  Rebekah's  son, 
his  nephew,  but  called  in  vers.  12  and  15  his  brother,  z>.,  his 
near  kinsman,  just  as  Lot  is  called  Abraham's  brother  (Gen. 
xiv.  16).     Jacob's  engagement  to  serve  Laban  as  his  flock- 
master  for  seven  years,  on  condition  of  receiving  Rachel  as 
his   wife.      Laban's  treachery  in  substituting  Leah  for  her 
sister,  an  act  of  deceit  made  easy  by  the  custom  of  the  bride 
being  veiled  from  head  to  foot  (comp.  Gen.  xxiv.  65),  the 
subsequent  gift  of  Rachel  to  be  a  second  wife — of  Bilhah  and 
Zilpah  to  be  his  concubines — the  successive  birth  of  his  chil- 
dren in  the  following  order: — Reuben,  Simeon,  Levi,  Judah, 
the  sons  of  Leah  ;  Dan  and  Naphtali,  the  sons  of  Bilhah, 
Rachel's  handmaid ;  Gad  and  Asher,  the  sons   of  Zilpah, 
Leah's   handmaid  ;  Issachar  and  Zebulon,  Leah's  fifth  and 
sixth  sons,  Dinah  her  daughter  ;  and  Joseph,  Rachel's  first- 
bom  child,  born  at  the  close  of  Jacob's  second  term  of  seven 
years'  service.     It  is  further  related  how  Jacob  after  the  birth 
of  Joseph  expressed  the  wish  to  return  to  his  own  home  in 
Canaan,  but  agreed  eventually  to  serve   Laban  for  seven 
years  longer,  on  condition  that  all  the  spotted  and  speckled 
goats,  and  all  the  brown  sheep,  should  be  his,  and  the  rest 
of  the  sheep  and  goats  should  be  Laban's  ;  how  Jacob  by 
stratagem  sought  to   improve  his  bargain,  how  his   flocks 
increased  exceedingly,  and  he  became  very  wealthy  in  cattle, 
/.<?.,  sheep  and  goats,  and  in  maid-servants,  and  men-servants, 
and  camels  and  asses  ;  how   Laban   and  his  sons  became 
enemies  of  Jacob's  prosperity,  how  Laban  tried  in  vain  to 
check  and  hinder  it,  and  how  at  length  he  became  estranged 
from  both  Jacob  and  his  daughters  ;  how  Jacob  determined 
upon  flight  with  his  wives  and  children  and  all  his  posses- 


6o  THE  PENTATEUCH 

sions,  and  seized  the  opportunity  of  Laban's  absence  at  his 
sheep-shearing  to  effect  his  purpose ;  how  Laban  pursued 
after  him  and  overtook  him  on  the  seventh  day  in  the  hill 
country  of  Gilead,  but  being  warned  of  God  in  a  dream  not 
to  hurt  Jacob,  after  a  friendly  parley  and  mutual  remon- 
strances and  explanations,  made  a  covenant  of  peace  with 
him  over  a  heap  of  stones  which  was  called  in  Hebrew 
Gilead,  but  in  Chaldee,  Jegar-sahaduthaen,  i.e.,  Heap  of 
witness — the  heap  of  stones  which  was  witness  to  the  cove- 
nant of  peace  made  by  Jacob  and  Laban  toward  each  other 
(cf.  Josh.  xxiv.  27).  All  this  is  told  at  length  in  chaps,  xxix.- 
xxxi.  And  then  after  a  solemn  sacrifice  upon  the  mount,  and 
a  feast  which  Jacob  gave  to  Laban  and  all  his  party,  they 
parted  early  the  next  morning.  Laban  kissed  his  children 
and  grandchildren  and  blessed  them,  and  returned  to  Aram- 
Naharum,  Aram  of  the  two  rivers,  or  Mesopotamia,  his 
own  place. 

But  Jacob's  dangers  were  not  yet  over.  The  encounter 
with  his  brother  Esau  was  still  to  come.  He  had  parted 
with  him  in  great  anger  for  the  wrong  which  he  had  done 
him.  Twice  had  he  tricked  him,  when  he  made  him  sell  his 
birthright  and  when  he  robbed  him  of  his  father's  blessing. 
He  knew  of  his  brother's  purpose  to  take  his  revenge  by 
killing  him,  as  soon  as  his  father  was  dead.  What  if  he 
should  now  execute  his  purpose,  and  not  content  with  taking 
his  life  should  wreak  his  vengeance  upon  his  wives  and 
children  also.     What  was  to  be  done  ? 

The  history  which  follows,  like  that  which  proceeds,  gives 
a  graphic  view  of  Jacob's  double  personality,  of  which  we 
spoke  before  :  as  a  servant  of  God,  and  as  a  man  of  a  marked 
natural  character,  with  the  faults  of  that  character  intensified 
by  the  atmosphere  of  the  age  of  the  world  in  which  he  lived. 
We  ourselves  are  hardly  aware,  perhaps,  how  large  a  por- 
tion of  our  own  moral  conduct  is  influenced  by  the  force 
of  circumstances.  Christianity,  with  its  high  code  of  morals, 
is  all  around  us.  We  have  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  We  have  the  ordinances  of  religion, 
Churches,  Common   Prayer,  Sacraments,  Sundays.      Law 


GENESIS  6i 

reigns  all  about  us,  and  we  depend  upon  its  sway  for  our 
safety,  our  comfort,  and  our  property.  Public  opinion 
fences  us  round,  and  supports  the  dictates  of  conscience. 
The  example  of  those  that  are  most  respected  in  our  society 
is  a  further  help  to  us.  And  under  these  influences  a 
Christian  man  to-day  is  what  he  is,  and  would  be  inexcusable 
were  he  otherwise.  It  was  very  different  in  the  age  and  in 
the  country  in  which  Jacob's  lot  was  cast.  A  solitary  wor- 
shipper of  God,  surrounded  by  idolatry  and  superstition  ; 
living  with  no  settled  government,  no  protection  of  law  and 
social  institutions,  he  had  to  take  care  of  himself  and  his  be- 
longings as  best  he  might.  Had  his  natural  disposition  been 
that  of  his  brother  Esau,  his  sword  and  anned  followers 
would  have  been  his  resource.  But  his  natural  disposition 
was  gentle  and  quiet.  The  arms  with  which  he  sought  to 
defend  himself  against  the  unscrupulous  world  around  him, 
were  those  of  caution,  craft,  and  cunning.  He  had  a  real 
faith  and  trust  in  God,  he  was  a  man  of  prayer,  and  rever- 
ence for  God,  and  dependence  upon  Him  (xxviii.  16-22  ; 
XXX.  2  ;  xxxi.  42  ;  xxxii.  9-12  ;  xxxv.  24-30),  but  he  thought 
to  be  doing  his  part  in  the  drama  of  life  by  stratagem  and 
artful  contrivances.  Thus  he  dealt  subtilly  with  his  brother 
Esau  in  the  matter  of  the  birthright  and  the  blessing  ;  he 
dealt  subtilly  with  Laban  in  his  contrivances  for  multiplying 
the  portion  of  the  flock  which  was  to  fall  to  his  share  (xxx. 
37-42) ;  and  now  in  the  supreme  danger  of  meeting  his 
brother  Esau  on  his  return  to  Canaan,  he  shows  consum- 
mate skill  and  suppleness  of  disposition. 

His  first  step  when  he  had  come  as  far  as  Mahanaim — in 
what  was  afterwards  the  tribe  of  Gad — was  to  send  a  humble 
message  to  his  brother,  who  seems  already  to  have  taken 
possession  of  the  land  of  Seir  (xxxii.  3  ;  xxxiii.  14,  16),  to 
inform  him  of  his  return  from  Laban.  But  when  the  answer 
came  that  his  brother  was  coming  to  meet  him,  at  the  head 
of  400  men,  he  was  greatly  afraid  and  distressed,  and  had 
no  doubt  that  Esau  was  come  to  smite  him  and  his  whole 
family,  so  he  made  his  dispositions  accordingly.  He  first 
divided  his  whole  party  of  men  and  cattle  into  two  bands, 


62  THE  PENTATEUCH 

so  that  if  one  was  smitten,  the  other  might  escape.     He  then 
betook  himself  to  earnest  prayer  for  God's  protection,  and 
pleaded  God's  promises  to  him.     His  next  step  was  to  select 
a  rich  lot  of  cattle  of  all  kinds,  as  a  present  to  Esau,  with 
which  to  appease  him  and  secure  his  favour — 200  she-goats 
and  200  ewes,  with  20  he-goats  and  20  rams,  30  camels  with 
their  colts,  40  cows   and  ten   bulls,  and   twenty  she-asses 
with  their  foals.     These  were  divided  into  several  droves, 
which  were  to  meet  Esau  in  succession,  and  the  drovers, 
when  they  met  Esau,  were  each  to  say  to  him,  "  These  be 
thy  servant  Jacob's  ;  it  is  a  present  unto  my  lord  Esau  ;  and, 
behold,  he  also  is  behind  us."     Then  followed  the  eventful 
night,  and   the  vision  at  Penuel  ;  and   the  next  morning, 
having  divided  his  wives  and  children  into  three  bands,  the 
handmaids  and  their  children  first,  Leah  and  her  children 
next,  and  the  beloved  Rachel  and  Joseph  last,  as  being  the 
safest  place,  he  went  on  before  them  and  saw  Esau  and  his 
400  men  coming  to  meet  him.     What  a  moment  of  terrible 
suspense  !     His  life,  his  family,  his  property  all  was  at  stake, 
all  dependent  upon  his  brother's  mood.     Was  he  come  to 
meet  him  as  a  brother,  or  as  a  deadly  foe  ?     Had  his  gifts 
pacified  his  brother's  anger  (Prov.  xxi.  14),  or  was  the  stifled 
revenge  of  twenty  years  about   to  burst  with  destruction 
upon  his  head?     Still  more  important,  had  God  heard  his 
prayer  ?  unworthy  as  he  was  of  the  least  of  God's  mercies, 
would  God  indeed  deliver  him  from  his  brother's  hand? 
The  answer  came  in  a  moment.     Esau  ran  forward  and  fell 
on  his  brother's  neck,  and  kissed  him,  and  they  both  wept, 
sweet  tears  of  reconciliation  and  love.     We  need  not  linger 
here  upon  the  details  of  the  rest  of  the  story,  told  in  the 
sacred  page  with  such  truthful  simplicity.     But  let  not  the 
great  lesson  be  lost,  the  power  of  prayer.     Who  can  doubt 
that  it  was  God  who  turned  Esau's  heart,  and  thus  covered 
Jacob's  head  in  that  hour  of  peril.     Jacob's  earnest  supplica- 
tion had  entered  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth.     Esau's 
kiss  of  peace,  and  acceptance  of  his  brother's  gifts,  was  the 
answer. 
The  closing  verses  of  chap,  xxxiii.  bring  Jacob   on  his 


GENESIS  63 

journey  from  Succoth,  east  of  Jordan,  to  Shalem  *  in  the 
land  of  Canaan,  to  what  was  afterwards  Samaria.  Here  he 
pitched  his  tent,  and  appears  to  have  contemplated  a  long 
residence  there,  for  he  acquired  by  purchase,  as  a  camp- 
ing-place for  his  tents,  a  parcel  of  ground  which  he  bought 
at  the  hand  of  Hamor  the  Hivite,  the  father  of  Shechem, 
for  one  hundred  keshitas.t  And  here  too  he  built  an  altar 
to  "  God,  the  God  of  Israel,"  with  evident  allusion  to  the 
name  which  he  had  received  when  he  wrestled  with  the 
angel  (xxxii.  28). 

It  is  to  this  purchase  that  St.  Stephen  alludes  in  his 
speech  in  Acts  vii.  15,  16,  where  by  some  accident  Abraham's 
name  is  wrongly  introduced  as  the  purchaser.  Here  it  was 
that  the  bones  of  Joseph  were  buried  as  we  read  in  Josh.  xxiv. 
32,  and  it  became  the  inheritance  of  the  sons  of  Joseph 
(see  John  iv.  5).  It  is  doubtless  to  this  land  that  Jacob  also 
alludes  in  his  blessing  of  the  sons  of  Joseph  in  Gen.  xlviii. 
22,  though  nothing  is  recorded  of  the  battle  with  the  Amo- 
rites.  One  can  only  guess  that  the  Amorites  seized  the 
land  which  Jacob  had  paid  for,  after  the  slaughter  of  Hamar 
and  Shechem,  and  that  Jacob  recovered  it  by  force.  Jacob's 
well  mentioned  in  John  iv.  6  was  obviously  dug  by  Jacob 
at  this  time. 

However,  our  history  has  now  brought  Jacob  back  to  the 
land  of  Canaan,  from  whence  he  fled  either  twenty  or  forty 
years  before.  The  perils  of  the  double  journey  have  been 
overcome.  The  danger  that  the  comforts  of  home  in  Meso- 
potamia might  estrange  him  from  Canaan  have  been  frus- 
trated by  Laban's  cov^etousness  and  unkindness.  His  brother 
Esau's  resentment  has  been  most  wonderfully  turned  into  kind- 
ness and  affection.    He  himself,  from  being  a  lonely  penniless 

*  There  is  some  doubt  whether  ' '  Shalem "  here  is  the  name  of 
Shechem' s  city,  or  whether  it  ought  to  be  taken  as  an  adjective 
agfreeing  with  Jacob,  and  meaning  "  in  health  "  or  "in  peace."  The 
Hebrew  seems  to  favour  "Shalem "  as  the  A.V.  takes  it,  following  the 
LXX. ,  Vulgate  and  Syriac. 

f  A  coin,  or  weight,  of  unknown  value,  translated  "silver"  in  Josh. 
xxiv.  32,  where  this  purchase  is  referred  to. 


64  THE  PENTATEUCH 

wanderer,  not  knowing  where  to  look  for  bread  to  eat  or 
raiment  to  put  on  (xxviii.),  is  become  a  great  and  wealthy 
man  with  wives  and  children,  and  men-servants  and  maid- 
servants, and  herds  and  flocks,  and  asses  and  camels,  and  is 
settled  in  the  land  which  God  promised  to  Abraham  and  to 
his  seed  for  a  possession.  But  far  above  these  earthly  bless- 
ings were  the  tokens  of  God's  favour  which  he  had  received. 
His  father's  prophetic  blessing  (xxvii.  28,  29),  the  glorious 
vision  of  God  and  His  ministering  angels,  the  rich  promises 
of  divine  love  and  care  (xxviii.  13-15),  and  the  repeated  ap- 
pearances and  comfortable  words  of  God  (xxxi.  3,  11-13; 
xxxii.  I,  2,  24-30).  These  were  indeed  acts  of  grace  of  un- 
speakable comfort  and  support  to  this  poor  pilgrim  in  an 
unkind  and  uncongenial  world.  They  were  to  him,  they 
are  to  us,  they  will  be  to  all  men  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
most  blessed  proofs  of  the  love  and  faithfulness  of  Almighty 
God.     Blessed  be  His  Holy  Name  ! 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  surprise  that  Jacob  did  not  hasten 
to  his  father  Isaac  immediately  on  his  return  to  Canaan, 
especially  as  it  seems  at  first  sight  from  xxxii.  3  and 
xxxii i.  16  that  Esau  was  _^already  settled  in  Seir.  But  a 
closer  observation  offers  a  probable  explanation.  First  it 
appears  from  Gen.  xxxvi.  6,  7  that  although  Esau  had 
acquired  land  in  Seir  and  went  there  occasionally,  yet  he 
had  not  moved  his  family  and  household  and  possessions, 
but  was  still  dwelling  with  or  near  his  father  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Hebron  and  Beer-sheba.  Jacob,  therefore,  with 
his  usual  caution,  would  hesitate  to  run  the  risk  of  collision 
with  his  brother.  There  are  indications,  too,  that  Rebekah 
his  mother  was  dead.  We  learn  from  Gen.  xlix.  31  that 
she  was  buried  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  and  if  this  had 
taken  place  after  Jacob's  return  he  would  surely  have  been 
sent  for,  and  in  all  probability  the  burial  would  have  been 
mentioned  as  Isaac's  is  (xxxv.  29).  But  besides  this  we 
learn  incidentally  from  Gen.  xxxv.  8  that  Deborah,  Re- 
bekah's  nurse,  was  living  with  Jacob  and  died  at  Bethel. 
We  may  conclude  pretty  certainly  from  this  that  Rebekah 
was  dead.     If  so  Esau  would  probably  be  supreme  with  his 


GENESIS  65 

heathenish  wives,  and  Jacob  may  well  have  preferred  to 
remain  at  a  distance.  Of  course,  however,  he  may  have  paid 
visits  to  his  father  of  which  the  history  contains  no  notice. 
The  history  is  also  silent  as  to  the  circumstances  under 
which  Jacob  eventually  came  to  Hebron  to  settle  there 
(xxxv.  27),  and  Esau  removed  with  his  whole  family  to  Seir 
as  his  permanent  abode  (xxxvi.  6,  7). 


Chaps,  xxxiv. -xxxvi.— Jacob  in  Canaan. 

These  chapters  carry  on  the  history'  of  Jacob  from  the 
time  of  his  return  to  Canaan  to  the  commencement  of  the 
history  of  Joseph — a  period  of  perhaps  some  ten  years — 
since  Joseph  was  seventeen  years  old  when  his  history  com- 
mences (xxxvii.  2),  and  he  was  born  six  years  before  Jacob 
left  Mesopotamia  to  return  to  Canaan  (xxx.  25  ;  xxxi.  41). 
He  settled  first,  as  we  have  seen,  at  Shalem,  in  the  country 
afterwards  called  Samaria.  And  here  a  new  danger  arose 
in  the  proposal  of  the  Hivites,  after  the  lamentable  dis- 
honour done  to  Dinah,  Jacob's  daughter,  to  make  a  treaty 
of  peace  and  friendship  with  Jacob,  by  which  intermarriages 
should  take  place  between  their  sons  and  daughters,  and 
they  should  possess  the  land  in  common,  to  dwell  and  trade 
in.  Shechem,  the  son  of  Hamor,  the  prince  of  the  Hivites, 
was  to  take  Dinah  for  his  wife,  and  to  pay  for  her  any 
dowry  which  her  father  and  brothers  chose  to  ask.  Had 
this  agreement  taken  place,  Israel's  future  glory  would  have 
been  nipped  in  the  bud.  The  seed  of  Abraham  would  have 
been  merged  in  the  abominable  races  of  Canaan,  and  God's 
gracious  purpose  for  keeping  a  light  of  truth  through  the 
darkest  ages  of  this  dark  world  would  have  been  utterly 
defeated.  But  it  was  frustrated  by  the  treachery  and 
ferocious  cruelty  of  two  of  Jacob's  sons,  Simeon  and  Levi, 
who,  burning  with  wrath  at  the  insult  done  to  their  own 
uterine  sister,  Dinah,  went  into  the  city,  sword  in  hand, 
at  a  time  when  the  men  were  disabled,  slew  Hamor  and 
Shechem  and  all  the  males,  took  the  women  and  children 

5-.  T.  E 


66  THE  PENTATEUCH 

captive,  with  all  the  spoil  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon, 
and  brought  Dinah  out  of  Shechem's  house.  The  result  of 
this  atrocious  deed  was  that  Jacob  was  obliged  to  retreat  to 
Luz  or  Bethel,  where  he  had  had  the  vision  of  the  angels  on 
his  outward  journey,  when  he  fled  from  his  brother  Esau 
(xxviii.  1 1-19).  On  his  arrival  there  he  built  an  altar  to  God, 
and  called  it  the  altar  of  God,  the  God  of  Bethel,  in  memory 
of  his  vision.  Here  God  appeared  to  him  again  and  re- 
newed all  His  former  promises,  and  confirmed  the  change 
of  his  name  to  Israel.  Here  Jacob  erected  a  memorial 
pillar,  and  poured  wine  and  oil  upon  it,  and  renamed  the 
place  Bethel,  the  House  of  God,  the  name  which  it  retained 
in  all  subsequent  times.  While  at  Bethel,  Deborah  died 
(xxxv.  8).  Jacob  does  not  appear  to  have  stayed  very  long 
at  Bethel.  It  was  too  near  to  the  city  of  Shechem  to  be 
safe.  For,  as  he  expressed  it,  the  deed  of  Simeon  and  Levi 
had  made  him  to  stink  among  the  Canaanites  and  Perizzites, 
and  there  was  a  danger  lest  they  should  gather  themselves 
together  against  him,  and  destroy  him  and  his  house.  He 
seems,  therefore,  to  have  detennined  to  move  southwards  and 
join  his  father  at  Hebron.  He  would  be  further  removed 
from  the  northern  tribes  where  the  slaughter  of  the  Hivites 
had  taken  place,  and  would  have  another  element  of  safety 
in  increased  numbers  (xxxiv.  30),  when  he  had  joined  his 
father  and  Esau,  should  any  hostile  movement  of  the 
Canaanites  take  place. 

Accordingly,  he  continued  to  move  south  with  the  slow, 
leisurely  movement  of  a  nomad  chief,  journeying  with  all 
his  flocks  and  herds.  He  had  got  almost  as  far  as  Ephrath, 
afterwards  called  Beth-lehem,  or  Bethlehem  Ephratah  (Mic. 
v.  2),  or  Bethlehem  of  Jud^a  (Matt.  ii.  1-6),  when  Rachel 
died  in  childbirth,  and  Jacob's  youngest  son  Benjamin  was 
born.  The  tragic  circumstances  of  Benjamin's  birth,  and 
his  being  Jacob's  youngest  child,  fully  explain  that  fondness 
for  him  which  comes  out  so  touchingly  in  the  succeeding 
history.  Rachel's  sepulchre  is  mentioned  (i  Sam.  x.  2)  as 
still  well-known.  Jacob's  next  halting-place  is  described 
as  being  beyond  "the  tower  of  Edar"  or  "of  the  flock." 


GENESIS  67 

The  tower  of  Edar  is  only  mentioned  elsewhere  in  Mic.  iv.  8, 
apparently  in  connection  with  Bethlehem,  Mic.  v.  i.  Dean 
Payne  Smith  says  that  here  Jacob  was  within  two  easy  days' 
march  from  Hebron,  where  we  find  him,  xxxv.  27  (Bishop  of 
Gloucester  and  Bristol's  Commentary).  The  death  of  Isaac 
at  the  age  of  180  years,  and  his  burial  in  the  cave  of  Mach-. 
pelah  by  his  sons  Esau  and  Jacob,  concludes  this  portion 
of  Jacob's  biography. 

In  reviewing  the  events  of  this  period  we  are  chiefly 
struck  by  the  immutability  of  God's  promise,  and  by  His 
never-failing  Providence,  bringing  about  His  own  purposes 
by  the  most  varied  instrumentalities.  The  unkindness  and 
grasping  character  of  Laban,  the  impulsive  generous  disposi- 
tion of  Esau,  the  ungoverned  ferocity  of  Simeon  and  Levi 
in  avenging  the  dishonour  done  to  their  sister,  the  timidity 
of  Jacob,  and  the  danger  of  his  position  in  Samaria,  all  work 
their  natural  effects.  And  the  result  is  that  Jacob  finds  him- 
self with  his  eleven  sons  seated  in  the  home  which  he  had 
left  twenty  or  forty  years  before — the  home  of  Abraham  and 
Isaac,  in  the  land  promised  to  him  by  the  God  of  his  fathers 
— and  more  estranged  than  ever  from  the  Canaanite  races 
which  surrounded  him,  and  with  whom  it  was  so  important 
that  he  should  form  no  alliance. 

Another  lesson  again  impressed  upon  us  by  the  simple 
narrative  of  the  events,  is  the  terrible  evil  of  polygamy. 
The  jealousies  and  rivalries  of  Leah  and  Rachel,  the  addi- 
tion of  inferior  wives  or  concubines,  utterly  destroying  the 
dignity  and  right  position  of  womankind,  and  breeding  dis- 
sensions among  the  children  of  the  same  father  ;  the  crime 
of  Reuben,  and  the  general  debasing  of  family  feeling  ;  all 
show  the  demoralising  influence  of  polygamy,  and  stamp  the 
primeval  law  of  marriage  as  declared  in  Gen.  ii.  24,  and  re- 
enacted  by  our  Lord  (Matt.  x.  6-8),  as  alone  suited  to  secure 
the  happiness  of  man,  and  the  mission  of  woman,  to  be  an 
help  meet  for  man.  The  Christian  precept,  "  Keep  thyself 
pure,"  comes  home  to  us  with  double  power  in  the  light  of 
such  events. 


68  THE  PENTATEUCH 


Chap,  xxxvi. 

This  chapter,  which  is  an  interruption  to  the  history  of 
Jacob  and  his  family,  carries  its  own  credentials  as  to  the 
antiquity  of  the  history  of  which  it  forms  a  part.  For  these 
Edomitish  and  Horite  genealogies,  which  were  full  of  in- 
terest and  importance  at  the  time  when  they  were  drawn  up, 
when  the  persons  named  in  them,  or  their  successors  and 
descendants,  were  occupying  the  land  spoken  of,  would 
necessarily  cease  to  have  any  value,  and  therefore  would  not 
have  been  originated,  in  later  times.  The  Horite  genealo- 
gies in  vers.  20-30,  and  the  curious  reference  to  the  mules 
found  in  the  wilderness  by  Anah  the  son  of  Zibeon,  are 
special  indications  of  the  great  antiquity  of  this  record. 

With  regard  to  the  list  of  Edomitish  kings,  vers.  31-39,  who 
are  said  to  have  "  reigned  in  the  land  of  Edom,  before  there 
reigned  any  king  over  the  children  of  Israel,"  it  is  manifest 
that  it  must  have  been  drawn  up,  or  rather  that  this  descrip- 
tion of  it  was  prefixed,  offer  the  time  when  there  were  kings 
in  Israel.  And  accordingly  we  find  that  it  is  a  duplicate  of 
the  lists  in  i  Chron.  i.  It  is  well  worthy  of  remark  also,  that 
supposing  the  first  king  named  (in  ver.  32),  Bela  the  son  of 
Beor,  to  have  been  contemporary,  as  his  name  suggests, 
with  Bala-am  the  son  of  Beor  (Num.  xxii.  5),  and  supposing 
Hadar  (ver.  39),  called  Hadad*  (i  Chron.  i.  50,  51),  to  be  the 
same  person  as  "  Hadad  the  Edomite,  of  the  king's  seed  in 
Edom"  (i  Kings,  xi.  14),  or  perhaps  rather  as  his  father 
(ver.  1 7),  then  there  are  about  the  same  number  of  generations 
from  Bela  to  Hadad,  viz.,  eight,  as  from  Phineas  to  Ahitub, 
Zadok's  father,  eight  (i  Chron.  vi.  4-8),  and  from  Nahshon, 
"Prince  of  the  children  of  Judah"  (i  Chron.  ii.  10)  at  the 
Exodus,  to  David,  viz.,  six  ;  thus  marking  by  undesigned 
coincidences  the  thorough  veracity  of  the  narrative.  These 
genealogies  would  probably  have  been  drawn  up  in  the  time 
of  David. 

*  r,  in  Heb.  "),  and  d,  1,  are  constantly  mistaken  for  each  other  in 
Hebrew  MSS. 


GENESIS  69 


Chaps,  xxxvii.-xlv.— Jacob  at  Hebron. 

These  chapters  embrace  that  eventful  period  of  Jacob's,  or 
Israel's  life,  which  intervened  between  his  final  settlement  at 
Hebron  after  Isaac's  death,  and  his  descent  into  Egypt  with 
all  his  family.  It  comprises  the  touching  story  of  Joseph,  so 
full  both  of  nature  and  romance,  told  with  such  beautiful 
simplicity,  and  giving  such  graphic  views  of  the  manners  of 
the  time — whether  of  the  nomad  shepherds  feeding  their 
flock,  or  of  the  travelling  merchants  trading  with  their 
Eastern  spices,  or  of  the  court  of  the  greatest  monarch  of 
those  times.  It  gives,  as  usual,  a  faithful  record,  not  of 
what  ought  to  have  been,  but  of  what  was  ;  not  of  what 
Christian  men  would  have  done,  but  what  men  in  a  rude, 
uncivilised  age,  without  the  precepts  either  of  the  law  or  of 
the  Gospel,  and  with  the  evil  surroundings  of  a  dark  and 
corrupt  world,  actually  did.  It  gives  us  at  the  same  time 
some  bright  examples  of  true  godliness  which,  with  all  our 
religious  advantages,  we  can  hardly .  exceed  ;  and  when  we 
wonder  how  such  piety  could  co-exist  with  such  impurity  of 
manners,  or  how  God's  signal  favour  and  blessing  could  be 
extended  to  men  whose  practice  in  some  points  was  so  much 
below  God's  moral  law,  we  are  led  to  the  reflection  how  thank- 
ful we  ought  to  be  that  our  own  sins  and  shortcomings,  living 
as  we  are  in  the  full  light  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  do  not  shut 
us  out  from  the  love  of  our  Heavenly  Father ;  and  that, 
after  all,  our  own  deviations  from  the  "perfect  law"  exhibited 
for  our  example  in  the  life  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  con- 
sidered relatively  to  our  more  perfect  knowledge — our  devia- 
tions in  temper,  in  self-will,  in  charity,  in  purity  of  thought, 
in  self-consecration  to  the  will  of  our  Heavenly  Father — 
may  be  more  blamable  in  the  sight  of  God  than  those  acts 
of  the  Patriarchs  done  in  ignorance,  without  any  law  to 
guide  them,  or  any  teacher  to  reprove  them. 

We  will  notice  first  a  few  detached  features  of  the  history. 

I.  We  mark  the  growth  of  Israel's  family,  gradually 
becoming  a  nation.     When  Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt, 


70  THE  PENTATEUCH 

they  amounted  in  all  to  seventy*  souls  (xlvi.  27).  That 
was  the  nucleus  of  what  was  afterwards  to  become  the 
people  of  Israel.  They  were  a  people  utterly  unlike  any 
other  people  that  has  ever  existed  in  the  world  :  unlike  in 
their  origin,  unlike  in  their  history,  unlike  in  their  mission 
in  the  world,  unlike  in  their  literature,  unlike  in  their 
calamities,  unlike  in  the  wonderful  tenacity  of  their  national 
life.  Other  races  have  founded  mighty  empires,  or  have 
been  famous  for  their  conquests  and  prowess  in  war  ;  some 
have  been  supreme  in  the  domain  of  art  and  the  refine- 
ments of  life  ;  others  again  in  science  and  mathematics. 
But  Israel's  mission  was  to  preserve  in  the  world  through 
fifteen  centuries,  amidst  the  darkness  of  a  corrupt  and  cor- 
rupting polytheism  all  around  them,  the  knowledge  of  the 
one  true  and  living  God,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the 
universe ;  and  to  hand  down,  for  the  enlightenment  and 
happiness  of  mankind  of  every  race  and  every  age,  those 
Holy  Scriptures  by  which  God  has  revealed  Himself  to 
mankind  as  "merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and 
abundant  in  goodness  and  truth"  (Exod.  xxxiv.  6).  It  is  a 
matter  of  intense  interest  to  follow  the  steps  by  which  such  a 
people  was  gradually  formed  under  the  guiding  Providence 
of  God,  who  destined  them  for  such  a  task. 

2,  We  notice  that  dreams  are  one  channel  by  which  God 
from  time  to  time  was  pleased  to  communicate  to  men  the 
knowledge  of  future  things.  Joseph  received  in  dreams 
intimations  of  his  future  greatness  (xxxvii.  6,  9).  And  Jacob 
was  encouraged  to  go  down  to  Egypt  by  visions  in  the  night 
(xlvi.  2-4).  The  dreams  of  Pharaoh's  servants  in  prison  (xl. 
9-19),  and  of  Pharaoh  himself  (xli.  1-9),  had  most  important 
results,  as  centuries  after  the  dreams  of  Nebuchadnezzar, 
and  of  Daniel  were  the  vehicles  of  momentous  prophecy. 
So  in  the  New  Testament  (Matt.  i.  20,  ii.  12,  13,  19  ;  Act 
xvi.  9,  &c.),  divine  communications  are  made  by  dreams  and 
visions  in  the  night. 

3.  The  virtuous  conduct  of  Joseph,  a  young  man  between 

*  Or  seventy-five,  according  to  the  LXX.  and  Acts  vii.  14. 


GENESIS  yi 

the  age  of  seventeen  and  thirty  (xxxvii.  2  ;  xli.  46),  stands 
out  with  conspicuous  beauty,  as  an  example  to  young  men  of 
all  time.  A  slave,  far  from  home,  in  a  foreign  land,  with  no 
friendly  monitor  at  hand,  he  is  thrown  into  circumstances  of 
the  strongest  temptation  by  a  bad  woman,  his  master's  wife. 
With  a  sense  of  duty,  which  no  solicitation  could  shake,  his 
answer  was,  "  How  can  I  do  this  great  wickedness  and 
sin  against  God."  As  the  immediate  consequence  of  his 
integrity,  he  was  thrown  into  prison.  "  His  feet  they  hurt 
in  the  stocks;  the  iron  entered  into  his  soul"  (Ps.  cv.  18). 
But  nothing  moved  him.  Conscience  was  supreme.  To 
do  right  and  suffer  for  it  was  better  than  to  do  wrong  at 
any  price.  Because  he  believed  in  God,  and  trusted  in 
Him.  And  he  was  not  disappointed,  as  the  history  which 
follows  shows.  It  is  a  noble  example,  which  stands  out 
all  the  more  gloriously  amidst  the  corrupt  morals  of  the 
time. 

There  is  a  curious  story  on  a  papyrus  known  to  have 
been  in  the  possession  of  Seti  II.  of  the  19th  dynasty,  before 
he  came  to  the  throne,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
called  "  The  Tale  of  the  Two  Brothers,"  in  which  some  of 
the  features  of  the  history  of  Joseph  and  Potiphar's  wife,  as 
we  read  it  in  Genesis,  are  so  exactly  reproduced  as  to  leave 
scarcely  any  doubt  that  the  writer  of  the  tale  was  acquainted 
with  it. 

Joseph's  conduct  to  his  brethren,  which  has  sometimes 
been  adversely  criticised,  was  also ;  eminently  wise  and 
beautiful,  and  showed  an  entire  absence  of  oriental  vin- 
dictiveness  for  a  gross  and  cmel  outrage.  His  object 
throughout  was  to  awaken  repentance  in  the  breasts  of  his 
brethren,  and  he  used  his  power  only  to  do  them  good. 
His  complete  forgiveness  of  the  wrong  done  him  was  worthy 
of  a  Christian,  and  his  affection  for  his  father  and  brothers, 
and  especially  his  uterine  brother  Benjamin,  are  evidences 
of  a  heart  unspoilt  by  the  pleasures  of  a  court  and  the 
possession  of  unbounded  power.  The  whole  narrative  is 
one  of  singular  beauty  and  pathos. 

4.  The  duration  of  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt 


72  THE  PENTATEUCH 

is  a  question  of  some  difficulty.     The  statements  on  which 
the  calculation  depends  are  the  following  : — 

In  Gen.  xv.  13,  the  announcement  to  Abraham  was,  when 
read  according  to  the  stopping  in  the  Hebrew  text  :  "  Thy 
seed  shall  be  a  stranger  (or  strangers)  in  a  land  that  is  not 
theirs,  and  they  shall  serve  them,  and  they  shall  afflict  them 
400  years,"  where  the  400  years  manifestly  describes  the 
time  to  be  occupied  by  all  the  events  spoken  of  in  the  verse. 
In  other  words,  400  years  were  to  elapse  from  the  time  when 
God  was  making  the  promise  to  Abraham,  or  possibly  from 
the  birth  of  Isaac,  Abraham's  seed,  till  the  close  of  the 
Egyptian  bondage  at  the  Exodus. 

And  this  understanding  of  the  passage  is  confirmed  by  St. 
Paul,  who,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (Gal.  iii.  17),  says 
that  the  law  was  given  430  years  after  the  covenant  made 
by  God  with  Abraham.  Where  he  evidently  alludes  to  the 
LXX.  version  of  Exod.  xii.  40,  which  runs  thus  :  "  Now  the 
sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  they  sojourned  in 
the  land  of  Egypt,  a?id  in  the  land  of  Canaan^  was  430 
years." 

Again,  the  genealogies  which  span  the  space  from  the 
twelve  Patriarchs  to  those  descendants  of  theirs  who  were 
flourishing  at  the  Exodus  is  decisively  in  favour  of  the  400 
(or  430)  years  covering  the  whole  time  from  the  covenant 
with  Abraham  (or  the  birth  of  Isaac)  to  the  Exodus.  From 
Levi  to  Aaron  and  Moses  are y^z^r  generations  (Exod.  vi.  16- 
25).  From  Judah  to  Nahshon,  captain  of  the  tribe  of  Judah 
at  the  Exodus,  are  six  generations  (i  Chron.  ii.  3-10  ;  Num. 
i.  7).  From  Joseph  to  Elishama,  captain  of  the  tribe  of 
Ephraim  at  the  Exodus,  are  j/:r  generations  (i  Chron.  vii.  14- 
26  ;  Num.  i.  10  ;  xxvi.  35-36).  From  Joseph  to  Zelophehad, 
who  died  in  the  wilderness,  are  seven  generations  (Num. 
xxvii.  3  ;  xxxvi.  1-13).  From  Judah  to  Bezaleel,  the  artificer 
of  the  Tabernacle,  are  seveii  generations  (Exod.  xxxi.  2  ;  i 
Chron.  ii.  3-9,  18-20).  Taking  the  generations  as  seven,  and 
allowing  forty  years  to  a  generation,  we  get  280  (40  x  7)  as 
the  time  from  the  Patriarchs  to  the  Exodus.  Add  to  this 
16  +  60+74=150  (from  the  covenant  to  the  birth  of  Isaac  ; 


GENESIS  73 

from  the  birth  of  Isaac  to  the  birth  of  Jacob  ;  from  the  birth 
of  Jacob  to  average  birth  of  Patriarchs),  and  you  get  280  + 
150  =  430  as  the  whole  time,  from  the  giving  of  the  covenant, 
to  the  Exodus.  You  get  the  same  result  by  adding  Jacob's 
age,  130  years,  at  the  time  of  his  coming  to  Egypt  (Gen. 
xlvii.  9),  to  the  76  years  (16  +  60)  which  intervened  between 
the  covenant  and  Jacob's  birth.  For  if  you  deduct  206  (16  4- 
60+  130)  from  430,  the  remainder,  224  years,  gives  the  time 
of  the  sojourn  in  Egypt. 

One  other  measure  of  the  time  between  the  descent  of 
Jacob  into  Egypt  and  the  Exodus  is  to  be  found  in  the 
increase  of  the  Israelites  from  the  70,  or,  if  we  add  their 
wives,  140,  who  came  down  to  Egypt  with  Jacob,  to  the 
about  2,400,000  who  went  out  of  Egypt."*  Now  it  is  stated 
as  an  historical  fact  t  that  the  actual  rate  of  increase  in  the 
back  settlements  of  North  America  was  for  the  population 
to  double  itself  every  fifteen  years,  for  several  successive 
periods.  At  this  rate  140  persons  would  increase  to  2,293,760 
in  210  years.  Now  if  we  take  into  account  the  repeated 
statements  of  the  extraordinary  increase  of  the  Israelites 
(Exod.  i.  7,  12,  20),  and  the  alarm  caused  by  it  to  the 
Egyptians  (Exod.  i.  9,  10),  and  consider  also  that  their 
numbers  may  have  been  augmented  in  the  course  of  200 
years  by  proselytes  like  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh,  the 
Kenezite,  and  Heber  the  Kenite  (Judg.  i.  16;  iv.  11),  and 
that  many  of  the  Patriarchs  had  concubines  of  foreign  birth, 
like  Manasseh  (i  Chron.  vii.  14),  we  shall  see  that,  far  from 
being  incredible,  the  increase  suits  the  shorter  period  of 
about  220  years  far  better  than  the  longer  one  of  430  years. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  which  is  the  number  accord- 
ing to  the  LXX.,  doubling  themselves  every  twenty  years, 
would  increase  to  157,286,400  in  400  years. 

In  further  confirmation  of  the  above  view  that  the  sojourn 

*  600,000  men  capable  of  marching  (Exod.  xii.  39),  multiplied  by  four, 
gives  a  whole  population  of  2,400,000. 

t  Rees'  "  Cyclopaedia,"  article  Population.  It  istherestated  also  that 
Sir  William  Petty  thought  it  possible  for  a  population  to  double  itself 
in  ten  vears. 


74  THE  PENTATEUCH 

of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  was  only  something  over  200 
years,  it  may  be  stated  that  Josephus,  giving  the  commonly 
received  interpretation  in  his  day,  says  :  "  They  left  Egypt 
430  years  after  our  forefather  Abraham  came  into  Canaan, 
but  215  years  only  after  Jacob  removed  into  Egypt."  The 
LXX.  version  of  Exod.  xii.  40,  with  which  the  Samaritan 
version  agrees,  is  "The  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
which  they  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  m  the  land 
of  Canaan^  was  430  years  (see  Birks,  on  the  "Exodus  of 
Israel"). 

5.  The  name  of  the  Pharaoh  who  was  reigning  when 
Joseph  was  sold  to  Potiphar  is  still  a  matter  of  controversy, 
the  decision  of  which  perhaps  requires  more  light  from 
Egyptian  monuments  than  we  as  yet  possess.  But  great 
progress  has  been  made  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
in  fixing  the  name  and  date  of  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Exodus, 
and  that  of  the  Pharaoh  of  the  persecution.  It  may  now  be 
affirmed  with  some  confidence  that  Menephthah  was  the 
weak  king  from  whom  the  Israelites  under  Moses  broke 
away,  about  B.C.  1300,  and  that  his  father,  the  great 
Rameses  II.,  was  the  Pharaoh  of  the  oppression.  The  old 
chronology,  which  places  the  Exodus  in  the  reign  of 
Thothmes  II.,  of  the  i8th  dynasty,  and  which  was  advocated 
so  lately  as  by  Canon  Cook  in  the  "  Speaker's  Commentary," 
is  now  quite  exploded.  Going  back  220  years  from  B.C. 
1300,  would  bring  us  to  B.C.  1520  as  about  the  time  of 
Jacob's  descent  into  Egypt  ;  and  if  we  can  ascertain  what 
dynasty,  and  what  king,  were  then  in  power  in  Egypt,  we 
shall  be  able  to  clear  up  the  present  uncertainty. 

The  evidence  which  points  irresistibly  to  the  reign  of 
Menephthah  as  the  time  of  the  Exodus,  is  the  following. 
Menephthah  was  a  weak  sovereign,  and  the  closing  years  of 
his  reign  are  passed  over  in  absolute  silence  in  Egyptian 
monuments.  The  building  of  the  treasure  cities  of  Pithom 
and  Raamses  (or  Rameses),*  points  strongly  to  the  reign  of 

*  There  is  no  difference  in  Hebrew  in  these  two  forms,  except  in  the 
pointing.  The  remains  of  these  treasure-cities  have  been  recently  dis- 
covered, with  proof  that  they  were  built  in  the  reign  of  Rameses  II. 


GENESIS  75 

Rameses,  Menephthah's  predecessor.  The  long  reign  of 
Rameses  (67  years)  exactly  suits  the  long  absence  of  Moses 
in  Midian.  The  fear  expressed  in  Exod.  i.  10,  and  given  as 
the  ground  of  the  oppression,  that  the  Israelites  might  join 
the  enemies  of  Egypt,  exactly  tallies  with  the  fear  of  an 
invasion  of  the  Hittites,  which  is  known  to  have  prevailed  in 
the  reign  of  Seti  I.  and  his  successor  Rameses  II.  The 
genealogies  in  Holy  Scripture,  nine  in  number,  which  cover 
the  time  between  the  Exodus  and  David,  are  incompatible 
with  the  date  of  about  B.C.  1 500  for  the  Exodus,  but  agree 
perfectly  with  that  of  about  B.C.  1300. 

The  subjoined  table  places  the  comparative  history  of  the 
Israelites,  and  of  Egypt,  side  by  side,  for  the  period  from 
Joseph's  rise  to  power  to  the  Exodus  : — 


Years. 

From  Joseph's  rise  to  power 

to  his  death  (110-30)     .       80 

From  death  of  Joseph  to 
commencement  of  op- 
pression, say  .         .       30 

From  commencement  of  op- 
pression to  birth  of 
Moses,  say    ...       30 

From    birth    of    Moses    to 

Exodus  (Acts  vii.  2, 3, 30)       80 


Years. 
Last  kings  of  i8th  dynasty  .     127 

Two     first     kings    of    19th 

dynasty,  say  .         .       20 

Rameses  II  .         .        .         .67 
Menephthah,  say  .         .         6 


where  it  will  be  seen  that  some  of  the  figures  are  conjectural, 
on  both  sides,  but  the  principal  ones  are  certain. 

According  to  the  above  table  Joseph  came  to  Egypt  early 
in  the  i8th  dynasty,  and  not  very  long  after  the  expulsion 
of  the  Hyksos,  or  shepherd  kings,  which  agrees  very  well 
with  Gen.  xlvi.  24  ;  but  it  is  not  safe  to  affirm  this  till  we 
have  more  certain  knowledge. 

It  should  be  added  that  amidst  all  the  diversity  of  opinion 
as  to  particular  events  in  the  history  of  the  Israelites,  in 
connection  with  Egypt,  there  is  great  unanimity  amongst  all 
Egyptologists  as  to  the  perfect  harmony  of  the  Bible  narra- 
tive with  all  that  we  know  from  Egyptian  papyri,  and  monu- 
ments,  and   inscriptions,   and   from   ancient   historians,   of 


76  THE  PENTATEUCH 

Egyptian  manners,  customs,  language,  and  history.  In  no 
one  instance  does  the  Bible  nan-ative  state  anything  not  in 
accordance  with  Egyptian  life  as  made  known  to  us  by  con- 
temporary documents.  In  very  many  instances  the  coinci- 
dences are  very  remarkable,  and  these  coincidences  are 
continually  increasing  as  our  knowledge  of  ancient  Egypt 
increases. 

Chap,  xlvi.-l. — Israel  in  Egypt. 

These  chapters  bring  us  to  that  momentous  period  in  the 
history  of  Israel — a  period  covering  over  200  years— during 
which  the  descendants  of  Jacob,  or  Israel,  dwelt  in  the  land 
of  Egypt.  At  first  an  inconsiderable  colony  of  about  140  or 
150  people,  but  probably  with  their  men  and  women  ser- 
vants amounting  to  several  hundreds,  they  increased  into 
a  nation  with  extraordinary  rapidity.  If  our  chronology  is 
right,  the  recent  ejection  of  the  shepherds  from  the  govern- 
ment of  Egypt  had  prepared  the  way  for  the  admission  of 
the  Israelites  to  the  fertile  land  of  Goshen.*  The  land 
of  Goshen,  otherwise  called  the  land  of  Rameses  (Gen. 
xlvii.  11),  was  a  very  fertile  district  in  Lower  Egypt,  lying 
towards  the  frontier  of  south-western  Palestine ;  it  was 
separate  from  Egypt  proper,  and  so  kept  the  Israelites 
from  too  close  intercourse  with  the  Egyptians,  and  was 
conveniently  placed  for  their  arrival  from  Hebron,  and 
for  their  flight  when  the  time  of  the  Exodus  should  come. 
The  whole  account  of  the  arrival  of  Jacob  and  his  family, 
and  his  reception  by  Pharaoh,  is  most  interesting.  It  dis- 
plays Joseph's  wisdom  as  a  statesman  in  suggesting  Goshen, 
and  disposing  Pharaoh  to  accept  it  on  account  of  the  Israel- 
ites being  " shepherds"  (Gen.  xlv.  10  ;  xlvi.  32-34  ;  xlvii.  1-6), 
as  well  as  in  his  provision  for  the  years  of  famine,  and  in  con- 
centrating the  land  in  the  possession  of  Pharaoh.  The  great 
advantage  of  their  dweUing  all  together  in  Goshen  was  (i) 

*  Sir  G.  Wilkinson  expresses  a  strong  opinion  that  the  prejudice 
against  shepherds  which  existed  at  the  time  of  Jacob's  arrival  "  plainly 
shows  that  the  invasion  of  the  shepherds  had  happened  previous  to 
that  event"  (Egypt,  vol.  ii,  p.  16). 


GENESIS  77 

the  convenience  of  so  fertile  a  district  for  their  flocks  and 
herds  ;  (2)  its  proximity  to  the  land  of  Canaan  ;  (3)  the 
facilities  which  it  offered  for  the  Israelites  to  keep  together 
as  a  separate  people,  instead  of  being  lost  in  the  general 
population  of  Egypt,  a  matter  essential  to  their  future 
destiny.     A  few  points  demand  a  separate  notice. 

1.  Obsen^e  the  genealogical  spirit  of  the  Israelite  race, 
which  introduces  genealogical  statistics  at  every  important 
epoch.  Here  chap.  xlvi.  gives  us  the  exact  condition  of 
Jacob's  family  at  the  time  of  their  entrance  into  Egypt. 
Compare,  e.g:,  Gen.  xxv.,  xxxv.  22-26,  xxxvi  ;  Exod.  vi.  14- 
27  ;  Num.  i.,  and  the  whole  collection  of  genealogies  in 
I  Chron.  The  historical  value  of  such  genealogies,  especially 
for  purposes  of  chronology,  is  very  great. 

2.  Observe  how,  amidst  all  the  historical  details  of  the 
temporal  fortunes  of  Israel,  the  primary  object,  the  fulfilment 
of  God's  covenant  with  Abraham,  to  give  the  land  of  Canaan 
to  his  seed,  is  never  lost  sight  of  In  Gen.  xlvi.  2-4  we  read, 
"God  spake  unto  Israel  in  the  visions  of  the  night  .  .  . 
and  said,  I  am  God,  the  God  of  thy  father  :  fear  not  to  go 
down  into  Egypt,  for  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation  .  .  . 
and  I  will  also  surely  bring  thee  up  again."  And  in  Gen. 
xlvii.  29-31  we  read  that,  when  Israel's  time  drew  nigh  that 
he  must  die,  he  called  Joseph  and  said  unto  him,  ''  Bury  me 
not,  I  pray  thee,  in  Eg>'pt  :  but  I  will  lie  with  my  fathers  ;  and 
thou  shalt  carry  me  out  of  Egypt,  and  bury  me  in  their 
burying-place.  And  he  said,  I  will  do  as  thou  hast  said.  And 
he  said.  Swear  unto  me.  And  he  swore  unto  him."  And 
accordingly,  in  chap.  1.,  we  are  told  that  when  Jacob  was  dead, 
Joseph  obtained  Pharaoh's  permission  to  go  up  to  the  land 
of  Canaan  to  bury  his  father,  and  that  he  and  all  his 
brethren,  and  his  father's  household,  and  the  elders  of 
Pharaoh's  house,  and  the  elders  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  "  a 
very  great  company"  of  chariots  and  horsemen,  went  up 
into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  "  buried  him  in  the  cave  of  the 
field  of  Machpelah,  which  Abraham  bought  with  the  field, 
for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place  of  Ephron  the  Hittite." 
And  in  like  manner  Joseph  himself,  when  about  to  die,  took 


78  THE  PENTATEUCH 

an  oath  of  the  children  of  Israel,  that  when  God  brought 
them  up  from  Egypt  unto  the  land  which  he  sware  to 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  they  would  bring  up  his  bones 
with  them.  And  he  was  embalmed,  and  put  in  a  coffin. 
But  when  the  Israelites  came  out  of  Egypt,  they  brought 
Joseph's  bones  with  them  (Exod.  xiii.  19)  ;  and  buried  them 
in  Shechem  (Josh.  xxiv.  32),  apparently  in  the  very  parcel  of 
ground  which  Jacob  had  bought  of  the  children  of  Hamor,  the 
father  of  Shechem  (Gen.  xxxiii.  19  ;  Acts.  vii.  16).  We  have 
in  these  narratives  a  striking  illustration  of  God's  faithfulness 
to  His  promise,  and  of  that  faith  and  patience  of  His  people, 
which  issues  surely  in  inheriting  the  promises  (Heb.  vi.  12). 

3.  Chap,  xlviii.  explains  how  it  came  to  pass  that  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh,  Jacob's  grandchildren,  were  put  upon  a  par 
with  his  children,  and  made  heads  of  tribes.  When  Joseph 
took  his  two  sons,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim  (ver.  i),  to  Israel 
that  they  might  receive  their  grandfather's  blessing  before 
he  died,  Israel  said  to  him:  "Thy  two  sons,  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh,  which  were  born  to  thee  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
before  I  came  unto  thee  .  .  .  are  mine  ;  as  Reuben  and 
Simeon,  they  shall  be  mine"  (ver.  5).  It  is  added  that  when 
they  came  up  to  Israel  to  receive  his  blessing,  he  laid  his 
right  hand  upon  the  head  of  Ephraim,  the  younger  son,  and 
his  left  hand  upon  the  head  of  Manasseh,  the  elder  son.  On 
Joseph's  remonstrating  and  saying,  "  Not  so,  my  father,  for 
this  is  the  first-born  :  put  thy  right  hand  on  his  head."  Israel 
refused  to  change,  saying,  "  I  know  it,  my  son,  I  know  it ; 
but  his  younger  brother  shall  be  greater  than  he  ; "  and  he 
added,  "In  thee  shall  Israel  bless,  saying,  God  make  thee 
as  Ephraim  and  Manasseh."  and  he  set  Ephraim  before 
Manasseh.  The  future  history  of  Israel  confirmed  the  truth 
of  this  prophetic  blessing  in  both  these  respects.  Ephraim 
became  the  leading  tribe  under  Joshua  and  afterwards.  It  is 
asserted  in  i  Chron.  v.  i  that  "  the  birthright  was  given  to  the 
sons  of  Joseph,"  which  seems  to  allude  to  the  "  double  por- 
tion" (see  Deut.  xxi.  17). 

4.  Gen.  xlix.  is  a  remarkable  chapter.  It  contains  Jacob's  pro- 
phetic blessing  of  each  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  expressed 


GENESIS  79 

in  the  language  and  rhythm  of  poetry.  The  prophecy  begins 
at  ver.  2,  when  we  detect  at  once  the  parallehsm  of  Hebrew 
poetry.  Its  prophetic  character  is  defined  in  ver.  i.  With 
regard  to  the  expression  "  the  last  day,"  it  belongs  mostly  to 
prophecies,  and  especially  those  relating  to  the  times  of  the 
Messiah.  See  Acts  ii.  17  ;  i  Pet.  i.  5,  20  [iv  rais  ecr^^arats 
rjfxepaL'i  j  €v  Kaipto  efr^arw  ;  ctt'  etr^^arou  twv  >^ovojv).  Heb. 
i.  I  (ctt'  icr-^drov  rwv  rjfiepiDV  tovtojv).  Comp.  Num.  xxiv. 
14  ;  Isa.  ii.  2  ;  Ezek.  xxxviii.  16,  (Sec.  The  most  noteworthy 
features  in  the  prophecy  are  the  reprobation  of  Reuben  for 
his  incest  with  Bilhah,  his  father^s  concubine  (Gen.  xxxv.  22), 
for  which  he  lost  the  birthright  (i  Chron.  v.  i.).  It  is  remark- 
able that  no  man  of  note,  either  judge  or  prophet  or  warrior, 
is  named  as  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben.  The  conduct  of  the  tribe 
in  the  great  struggle  with  Jabin,  King  of  Canaan,  is  blamed 
by  Deborah  (Judg.  v.  15,  16).  Then  the  fierce  cruelty  and 
treachery  of  Simeon  and  Levi  in  the  slaughter  of  Hamor 
and  the  men  of  Shechem,  and  the  destruction  of  their  cattle 
(Gen.  xxxiv.  25-29),  is  mentioned  with  just  severity,  and  the 
future  inferiority  of  the  two  tribes  in  respect  of  territory  is 
assigned  as  the  providential  penalty  for  that  cruelty.  Simeon 
had  no  distinct  territory,  but  had  cities  and  villages  assigned 
to  him  within  the  borders  of  the  portion  of  the  children  ot 
Judah.  And  as  to  Levi,  his  sentence  was  turned  into  a  bless- 
ing in  reward  for  the  zeal  shown  by  the  sons  of  Levi  on  occa- 
sion of  the  idolatrous  apostasy  of  the  Israehtes,  as  related  in 
Exod.  xxxii.  26-29.  Therefore,  though  Jacob's  word  "  I  will 
divide  them  in  Jacob,  and  scatter  them  in  Israel,"  was  carried 
out  in  the  letter,  and  "all  the  tribe  of  Levi  had  no  part  nor 
inheritance  with  Israel "  (Deut.  xviii.  1,2;  Josh.  xiv.  3, 4  ;  xxi. 
3-41),  but  were  scattered  through  the  other  tribes  of  Israel, 
yet  this  was  turned  rather  to  their  honour,  w^hen  it  was  said 
of  them  (Josh.  xiii.  ^^  ;  Num.  xviii.  21,  &c.),  "The  Lord  God 
of  Israel  is  their  inheritance."  The  principal  passages  con- 
cerning the  separation  of  the  Levites  for  the  service  of  the 
Tabernacle  are  Num.  iii.  iv.;  Deut.  x.  8,  9. 

With  regard  to  Gen.  xlix.  6,  it  should  be  translated  as  in 
the  R.V.,  "  In  their  self-will  they  houghed  the  oxen,"  instead 


8o  THE  PENTATEUCH 

of  the  A. v.,  "  they  digged  down  a  wall."  Not  less  remarkable 
is  the  blessing  of  Judah  (vers.  8-12).  From  the  time  of  David 
to  the  time  of  the  captivity,  Judah  was  the  foremost  tribe, 
pre-eminent  among  his  father's  children.  As  it  is  expressed 
(i  Chron.  v.  2),  "Judah  prevailed  above  his  brothers,  and  of 
him  came  the  chief  rulers."  David,  Solomon,  and  all  the 
kings  down  to  Zedekiah,  were  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  Zerub- 
babel  was  the  "  Prince  of  Judah  "  (Ezra  i.  8).  And  though  in 
the  following  ages  Judah  sank  into  comparative  obscurity, 
and  quite  lost  the  lead  during  the  two  centuries  of  the  As- 
monean  supremacy — who  were  a  priestly  family  of  the  course 
of  Jehoiarib,  and  consequently  of  the  tribe  of  Levi — yet  during 
the  whole  period  Jerusalem  in  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  the 
civil  and  religious  centre  of  the  whole  nation.  And  the  pre- 
diction, "Judah,  thou  art  he  whom  thy  brethren  shall  praise 
.  .  .  thy  father's  children  shall  bow  down  .before  thee,"  re- 
ceived its  full  and  glorious  accomplishment  when  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham,  was 
born  King  of  the  Jews  at  Bethlehem  of  Judah.  Of  Him  it 
was  said  by  the  angel  before  His  birth  :  "  He  shall  be  great, 
and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest  :  and  the  Lord 
God  shall  give  unto  Him  the  throne  of  His  father  David,  and 
He  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever,  and  of  His 
kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end"  (Luke  i.  32,  33).  Compare 
the  prophecy  of  Balaam  (Num.  xxiv.  17-19).  With  regard 
to  the  name  "  Shiloh,"  which  undoubtedly  means  "  the 
Messiah,"  there  are  two  chief  interpretations,  (i)  deriving  it 

from  TO^  or  D?^,  gives  the  sense  of  the  "  Peaceable  one,"  and 
so  analogous  to  Solomon,  and  to  "  the  Prince  of  Peace "  ; 
(2)  the  other  reading  it  v^,  i.e.,  "He  whose  right  it  is," 
Identical  with  Ezek.  xxi.  29,  except  that  here  the  short  form 
1^^  is  used  instead  of  the  full  'I?  "l^/t^  of  Ezekiel  (see  note 
in  "  Speaker's  Commentary  ").  Other  interpretations  need 
not  be  mentioned.  Of  the  blessing  of  Joseph  (ver.  22-26) 
it  may  suffice  to  say  that  while  some  of  the  allusions 
are  obscure,  and  the  sentences  difficult,  yet  it  points 
clearly  to  the  greatness  of  the  double  tribe  of  Ephraim  and 


GENESIS  8i 

Manasseh,  which  was  the  pecuHar  glory  of  Joseph,  their 
progenitor,  and  perhaps  to  Joshua,  the  great  leader  after 
Moses,  who  was  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  who  led  the 
people  into  the  possession  of  the  promised  land.  See  Heb. 
iv.  8,  where  "Jesus"  is  of  course  only  the  Greek  form  of 
"Joshua." 

In  ver.  24,  some  MSS.,  instead  of  "from  thence  is  the 
shepherd,  &c.,"  of  which  it  is  very  hard  to  make  sense,  read 
"  by  the  name  of  the  shepherd,  the  Stone  (or  Rock)  of  Israel, 
even  by  the  God  of  thy  Father,"  &:c.,  D^O  instead  of  D^^, 
the  same  consonants,  only  differently  pointed.  The  same 
preposition  IP,  "  by,"  governs  "  the  hands,"  "  the  name," 
and  "the  God  of  thy  fathers."  For  the  whole  section  com- 
pare the  epitome  in  Stephen's  speech  in  Acts  vii.  6-36. 

And  here  we  part  with  the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  first- 
born of  History.  It  is  a  book  which  gives  the  earliest 
intelligence  we  possess  concerning  our  own  human  race, 
and  its  doings  in  the  world  before  the  dawn  of  secular 
history  shed  its  light  upon  our  earth.  And  it  reveals 
to  us  the  splendour  of  the  Godhead,  creating  heaven  and 
earth  by  the  word  of  His  power,  and  governing  the  universe 
with  unerring  wisdom.  It  reveals  to  us  the  unseen  God 
foreseeing,  decreeing,  ordering  all  things,  by  His  never-failing 
Providence.  It  shows  us  the  ministry  of  angels,  all  the 
powers  of  nature,  and  the  actions  of  men,  always  at  God's 
disposal,  always  bringing  about  His  will.  Above  all  it  reveals 
in  its  majestic  beauty  the  character  of  God,  His  righteousness. 
His  mercy,  and  His  love  ;  His  tender  care  for  man,  His 
untiring  faithfulness  to  them  that  love  Him,  the  inexhaus- 
tible resources  of  His  power  to  bring  about  in  due  season 
what  His  mercy  and  love  have  decreed. 


S.  T. 


EXODUS 


This  second  Book  of  the  Pentateuch,  called  by  its  Greek 
name  of  E^OAOS,  "the  going  out,"  has,  as  its  name 
indicates,  for  its  principal  subject  the  going  out  from  Egypt 
of  the  children  of  Israel  under  the  guidance  of  Moses  to  take 
possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  promised  to  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob.  It  contains  also  some  preliminary  legis- 
lation, including  the  ten  commandments,  and  an  elaborate 
account  of  the  fashion  and  execution  of  the  Tabernacle  and 
all  the  instruments  connected  with  it. 

The  subject-matter  of  the  book  may  perhaps  conveniently 
be  divided  into  seven  sections.  Chaps,  i.-iv.  contain  the 
history  of  the  oppression.  Chaps,  v.-xii.  30  is  the  history  of  the 
struggle  with  Pharaoh,  between  Moses'  return  from  Midian 
and  the  actual  Exodus.  Chaps,  xii.  31-xviii.  is  the  histor>'of  the 
Exodus  to  the  arrival  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness  of 
Sinai.  Chaps,  xix.-xxiii.  is  the  giving  of  the  law  from  Mount 
Sinai.  Chaps,  xxiv.-xxxi.  contain  the  instructions  given  to 
Moses  in  the  mount  during  forty  days.  Chaps,  xxxii.-xxxiv.  is 
the  account  of  the  idolatry  of  Aaron  and  the  people  during 
Moses'  absence  in  the  mount,  and  its  immediate  conse- 
quences. Chaps.  XXXV. -xl.  describe  the  making  and  rearing 
of  the  Tabernacle,  and  the  accompanying  furniture. 

Chaps,  i.-iv. — The  History  of  the  Oppression. 

The  opening  verses  of  the  first  chapter  sum  up  in  brief 
what  had  been  before  given  in  detail  (Gen.  xlvi.  8-27),  the 
exact  number  of  the  sons  of  Israel,  who  came  into  Egvpt, 

83 


84  THE  PENTATEUCH 

viz.,  70  souls  including  Israel  himself,  and  his  daughter 
Dinah,  and  Joseph  and  his  two  sons  born  in  Egypt.  The 
narrative  goes  on  to  record  the  rapid  increase  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  which  it  does  in  most  emphatic  terms  (ver.  7). 
"  They  were  fruitful  and  increased  abundantly,  and  multi- 
plied, and  waxed  exceeding  mighty,  and  the  land  was 
filled  with  them."  And  the  statement  is  repeated  in  equally 
strong  terms  in  vers.  12  and  20.  It  was  important  to  dwell 
upon  this,  both  to  show  God's  providential  care  of  His 
people  in  every  stage  of  their  history,  and  to  indicate  the 
cause  of  the  oppression,  viz.,  the  fears  of  the  Egyptians  on 
account  of  their  growing  power,  and  also  to  account  for  the 
extraordinary  numbers  of  the  people  at  the  Exodus. 

There  is  no  exact  note  of  time  to  show  when  the  oppres- 
sion began.  Chap.  i.  6.  seems,  however,  to  imply  a  time  of  not 
less  than  thirty  years  after  Joseph's  death,  and  the  abundant 
increase  spoken  of  in  ver.  7  could  hardly  have  taken  place  in 
less  than  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  (80  years 
of  Joseph's  lifetime  +  30  or  40  years).  Supposing  the 
numbers  to  have  doubled  every  fifteen  years,  the  2  x  70 
=  140  so  as  to  include  the  wives,  would  have  become  35,840 
in  125  years,  or  a  fighting  force  of  8  or  9000  men.  In  ver.  8, 
the  expression,  "  a  new  king,"  has  been  thought  to  indicate  a 
new  dynasty,  and  so  to  favour  the  idea  that  "  the  new  king  " 
was  Aahmes  or  Amosis  I.,  the  first  king  of  the  i8th  dynasty, 
who  ejected  the  shepherd  kings.  But  there  is  nothing  in 
the  phrase,  "  a  new  king,"  to  indicate  anything  more  than  a 
king  who  had  lately  succeeded  to  the  throne.  The  adjective 
"new"  is  applied  in  Hebrew  to  a  new  threshing  machine,  a 
new  cart,  a  new  skin  bottle,  a  new  garment,  a  new  wife,  &c. 
The  phrase  too,  "  which  knew  not  Joseph,"  merely  means 
that  the  king  who  succeeded  to  the  throne  at  this  time,  pro- 
bably 70  or  80  years  after  Joseph's  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  Egypt,  had  forgotten  all  about  Joseph,  and  the 
gratitude  due  to  him  for  the  great  benefits  conferred  upon 
the  country  by  him.  The  pressing  danger  of  a  war  with 
the  powerful  Hittites,  and  other  confederate  races,  who  lay 
not  far  from  the  land  of  Goshen,  would  naturally  have  much 


EXODUS  85 

more  weig-ht  with  him  than  the  memory  of  great  services 
rendered  three-quarters  of  a  century  before. 

That  this  danger  existed  in  an  acute  form  in  the  reign  of 
Seti  I.  and  his  successor,  Rameses  II.,  is  an  historical  fact. 
There  are  full  accounts  in  Egyptian  inscriptions  of  the  wars 
of  Seti  I.  and  his  successor,  the  great  Rameses,  with  the 
Kheta  or  Hittites.  In  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Rameses 
a  war  broke  out  between  Egypt  and  the  Hittites,  which 
culminated  in  the  great  battle  of  Kadesh,  on  the  Orontes, 
after  which  Pharaoh's  doubtful  victory  was  followed  by  a 
treaty  of  peace  between  Rameses  and  the  King  of  the 
Hittites.  This  battle  is  most  vividly  represented  in  a  paint- 
ing on  the  walls  of  the  Temple  at  Karnak,  in  which  the 
Canaanites  are  conspicuous,  and  is  the  subject  of  a  great 
epic  poem  which  has  been  preserved  entire.  In  the  treaty 
of  peace  the  King  of  the  Hittites  promises,  among  other 
things,  for  himself  and  his  successors  "  never  to  invade  the 
land  of  Egypt "  (Brugsch,  chap.  xi.). 

In  the  previous  war  of  Seti,  it  is  also  especially  to  be  re- 
marked how  great  the  danger  to  Egypt  was,  should  the 
Israelites  inhabiting  the  land  of  Goshen  join  the  invaders 
from  the  north-east.  "  There  were  constant  advances  of 
the  neighbouring  peoples  upon  the  Delta."  They  took  "  the 
bold  resolve  to  press  forward  over  the  eastern  frontier,  to 
find,  as  it  was  expressed  later,  sustenance  for  their  cattle  on 
the  possessions  of  Pharaoh."  The  Shasu,  a  wandering 
tribe,  whose  chief  territory  lay  in  the  land  of  Edom,  especi- 
ally laid  claim  to  those  pastures  as  having  belonged  to 
the  Hyksos  (Brugsch,  p.  243).  And  that  the  Hittites 
were  a  party  to  this  invasion  of  Egyptian  territory  seems 
clear  from  Seti's  following  up  his  success  against  the 
Shasu,  by  advancing  northward  as  far  as  Kadesh,  and 
there  obtaining  an  important  victory  over  the  army  of  the 
Kheta. 

Here  then  we  have  abundant  explanation  of  the  Egyptian 
policy  in  oppressing  the  Israelites  and  endeavouring  to 
break  down  their  power,  and  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion 
that    the    oppression   began    under   Seti  I.,   the   father  of 


86  THE  PENTATEUCH 

Rameses  II,,  and  was  continued  through  the  long  reign  of 
the  son. 

With  regard  to  the  particular  form  of  oppression  adopted 
by  the  Egyptians,  the  merciless  exaction  of  excessive  labour, 
enforced  by  the  stick  of  the  task-masters,  which  is  so  feel- 
ingly spoken  of,  again  and  again,  in  the  early  chapters  of 
Exodus  (i.  II,  14;  ii.  11,12,23,24;  iii.  7,  16;  v.  7,  8,  9 ; 
vi.  9),  and  the  labour  of  the  Israelites  in  making  bricks.  Sir 
Gardner  Wilkinson  (vol.  ii.  ch.  v.)  tells  us  that  brick-making 
was  a  monopoly  of  the  Egyptian  Government  ;  that  in 
addition  to  native  Egyptians,  they  employed  numerous 
foreign  captives,  who  worked  as  slaves,  in  all  parts  of  Egypt ; 
and  that  almost  all  the  buildings  in  Egypt,  except  the  larger 
temples,  were  built  of  crude  bricks,  baked  in  the  sun.  He 
states  also  that  it  was  customary  for  task-masters  to  stimu- 
late the  workers  with  the  stick.  A  woodcut  at  vol.  ii.  p.  99 
confirms  these  statements.  Foreign  captives  are  making 
bricks  in  all  their  different  stages,  digging,  mixing,  making 
with  a  wooden  mould,  and  carrying  on  their  shoulders. 
Task-masters  with  their  sticks  are  watching  and  urging  them. 
The  scene  is  at  Thebes  in  Upper  Egypt. 

Another  remarkable  confirmation  of  the  Scripture  narrative 
has  arisen  from  the  recent  excavations  at  Tel-el-Mashkuta, 
or  Succoth.  From  inscriptions  found  on  the  spot  it  appears 
that  these  are  the  ruins  of  the  treasure-city  of  Pithom  (Exod. 
i.  11),  and  that  the  city  was  built  by  Rameses  II.,  "setting  to 
rest  finally  the  question  as  to  the  date  of  the  Exodus,  and 
the  Pharaoh  of  the  oppression  "  ("  Fresh  Light  from  Ancient 
Monuments,"  Prof  Sayce,  pp.  60,  61).  It  is  also  curious 
that  in  the  walls,  eight  to  ten  feet  thick,  of  the  treasure 
chambers  thus  laid  bare,  some  of  the  bricks  are  made  without 
straw  (Exod.  v.  16-19). 

There  is  no  direct  clue  as  to  the  time  that  elapsed  be- 
tween the  commencement  of  the  oppression  and  the  birth 
of  Moses.  But  considering  the  works  executed  in  building 
the  treasure-cities,  the  repeated  stages  mentioned  of  the 
increased  vigour  of  their  service  (i.  11-14,  15,  22),  and  the 
repeated  mention  of  the  increase  of  the  people  (i.  12,  20),  it 


EXODUS  87 

can  hardly  have  been  less  than  thirty  years.  He  was 
probably  born  in  the  reign  of  Seti  I.,  and  fled  to  Midian  in 
about  the  27th  year  of  Rameses  II.,  being  then  forty  years 
old  (Act  vii.  23),  and  remained  there  forty  years,  till  the 
death  of  Rameses  (Act  vii.  30). 

The  beautiful  story  of  Moses'  exposure  among  the  flags  by 
the  river's  brink,  of  his  finding  by  the  Egyptian  princess, 
of  his  being  nursed  by  his  own  mother,  of  his  adoption  by 
Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  consequent  training  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  to  become  mighty  in  word  and 
deeds  (Acts  vii.  22),  needs  no  comment.  Its  beauty  speaks 
for  itself,  and  the  Providential  Hand  of  God  is  conspicuous 
at  every  turn. 

In  the  subsequent  incident  of  his  slaying  the  Egyptian 
(Exod.  ii.  II,  12),  who  was  smiting  an  Hebrew,  "one  of  his 
brethren,"  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  teaches 
us  to  see  what  we  might  have  overlooked  without  his  com- 
ment, Moses'  deliberate  choice  of  "  the  reproach  of  Christ " 
rather  than  "  the  treasures  of  Egypt ; "  and  his  noble  resolve 
to  cast  his  lot  with  the  afflicted  "  people  of  God,"  rather  than 
"enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season."  This  example 
cannot  be  too  carefully  weighed  (Heb.  xi.  24-26).  And  in 
the  rejection  of  Moses  as  their  deliverer,  by  the  Hebrew 
who  was  doing  his  neighbour  wrong,  St.  Stephen  teaches 
us  to  see  a  type  of  the  rejection  of  Christ  by  a  stiff-necked 
people  (Acts  vii.  23-29),  always  ready  to  resist  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  flight  of  Moses  from  Egypt  (ii.  15),  and  his  sojourn  in 
Midian,  present  one  or  two  circumstances  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. 

I.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  another  indication  that  the  know- 
ledge of  the  true  and  living  God  had  not  yet  wholly  given 
way  to  idolatry,  in  the  existence  in  Midian  of  a  priest — cohen, 
which  is  the  same  title  as  was  borne  by  Melchizedek  (Gen. 
xiv.  18),  and  afterwards  by  Aaron  and  his  successors,  though 
not  exclusively.  It  is  possible  that  Moses  was  led  to  choose 
Midian  as  the  place  of  his  retreat,  by  the  knowledge  that  God 
was  still  more  or  less  perfectly  worshipped  there.  (Comp. 
Exod.  xviii.  10-12.)     Hence  also  his  marriage  with  Reuel's 


88  THE  PENTATEUCH 

daughter,  Zipporah.     With  regard  to  the  name  of  Moses' 
father-in-law,  there  is  some  difficulty.     At  Exod.  ii.  i8  and 
Num.  X.  29,  he  is  called  7^?•1y*]  (variously  transliterated  in 
the  A.V.  Reuel,  and  Raguel).     But  in  Exod.  iii.  i  we  read, 
"  Moses  kept  the  flock  of  Jethro  his  father-in-law,  the  priest 
of  Midian,"  where  at  first  sight  the  name  of  Jethro  appears 
to  be  given  to  the  same  person  as  was  previously  called 
Reuel.    But  this  is  by  no  means  necessarily  or  even  probably 
so.     A  period  of  at  least  thirty  years,  perhaps  nearer  forty, 
must  have  elapsed  between  Exod.  ii.  18  and  iii.  i,  during 
which   Reuel  may  have  died  and  been   succeeded  in  the 
hereditary  priesthood  of  Midian  by  his   son  Jethro  ;   and 
Moses  may  very  probably  have  continued  to  feed  the  flock 
of  Jethro  as  he  had  dofte  that  of  Reuel  his  father.     And 
with  regard  to  the  expression  "his  father-in-law,"  repeated 
in  Exod.  iv.  18  ;  xviii.  1,2,  5,  6,  9,  &c.,  and  applied  to  Jethro 
and  also  to  Hobab,  Judg.  iv.  11,  the  difficulty  is  removed 
when  we  remember  that  the  Hebrew  word  so  translated  is 
not  confined  to  a  father-in-law,  but  equally  means  a  son-in- 
law,  as  in  Gen.  xix.  12  ;  i  Sam.  xxii.  14,  &c.;  and,  still  more 
generally,  one  related  by  marriage,  as  2  Kings  viii.  27.     So 
in  Arabic,  the  same  word  means  any  one  nearly  related  by 
marriage.     If  then  we  understand  the  word  |nn  {chotJieii) 
in    Exod.   iii.   i,  and  elsewhere,  when  applied    to    Jethro, 
to  mean  brother-ift-law,  all  difficulty  disappears.     With  re- 
gard to  "  Hobab,  the  son  of  Reguel  the  Midianite,  Moses' 
father-in-law"  (Num.  x.  29),  he  may  well  have  been  another 
son  of  Reuel,  and  brother  of  Jethro  ;  and  so  equally  with 
Jethro  the  chothe?i  of  Moses,  as  he  is  called  also  in  Judg. 
iv.  II. 

In  the  incident  of  Moses  assisting  the  daughters  of  Reuel 
to  water  their  flocks  at  the  well,  and  helping  them  against 
the  shepherds,  who,  according  to  their  custom,  would  have 
compelled  them  to  wait  till  they  had  first  watered  their  own 
flocks,  and  in  Reuel's  hospitality  to  the  stranger,  and  in  the 
marriage  which  followed,  we  have  a  repetition  of  the  same 
features  of  simple  pastoral  life  which  we  saw  in  the  case 
of  Isaac  and  Jacob. 


EXODUS  89 

2.  The  A.V.  of  Exod.  ii.  23,  "  in  process  of  time,"  hardly 
gives  the  force  of  the  original,  "  in  those  many  days,"  which 
seems  to  be  a  feeling  expression  of  the  long  continued  agony 
of  the  oppression,  and  at  the  same  time  a  distinct  allusion 
to  the  length  of  the  reign  of  Rameses  II.,  their  strong  op- 
pressor, and  so  a  very  important  chronological  mark.* 

3.  Vers.  23-25  contains  a  very  beautiful  lesson  of  God's 
faithfulness  to  His  promise,  and  of  the  comfortable  truth 
that  He  hears  and  answers  prayer.  The  time  for  the 
fulfilment  of  the  covenant  was  approaching — the  deliverance 
was  at  hand — but  it  must  be  preceded  by  prayer.  And 
so  affliction  did  its  perfect  work.  The  hard  bondage 
brought  the  children  of  Israel  to  their  knees  in  earnest 
supplication  ;  their  cry  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  ;  He  looked  with  pity  upon  His  suffering  people  ; 
He  remembered  His  covenant  with  their  fathers  ;  and  so 
the  work  of  deliverance  was  put  in  train  at  once  by  the 
mission  of  Moses  to  be  their  deliverer. 

Chapter  iii.  contains  the  remarkable  details  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  Moses  to  his  mission  of  unrivalled  difficulty 
and  glory.  He  was  engaged  in  the  humble  task  of  feed- 
ing Jethro's  flock  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Horeb, 
when  his  attention  was  arrested  by  the  extraordinary  sight 
of  a  bush  (thought  to  be  a  species  of  acacia  which  is 
common  in  that  region),  burning  brightly  but  not  consumed. 
On  turning  aside  and  going  nearer,  "to  see  this  great 
sight,"  he  heard  a  voice  calling  him  by  name,  and  forbidding 
him  to  approach  nearer,  and  bidding  him  put  off  his  sandals 
from  his  feet,  because  the  place  where  he  was  standing  was 
holy  ground.  Ever>'thing  portended  the  sublime  solemnity 
of  the  occasion  ;  and  we  can  imagine  with  what  reverential 
awe  Moses  listened  to  the  words  which  followed,  while  he 
hid  his  face  in  his  mantle,  because  "  he  was  afraid  to  look 
upon  God."  Every  word  of  the  Divine  communication  was 
big  with  comfort  and  with  hope.  He  who  spake  to  him 
was  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob — words  full  of 

*  The  call  to  Moses  to  return  to  Egypt  now  that  Rameses  is  dead, 
reminds  us  strongly  of  Matt.  ii.  20. 


90  THE  PENTATEUCH 

all  the  love,  and  all  the  faithfulness,  and  all  the  power  which 
had  marked  the  covenant  relations  of  God  to  those  faithful 
servants  of  His.  He  knew  all  the  affliction  of  their  children 
in  Egypt,  and  had  heard  their  bitter  cry.  And  now  the 
hour  of  their  deliverance  was  at  hand.  And  then  the 
message  fell  upon  the  astonished  ears  of  Moses,  "  I  will 
send  thee  unto  Pharaoh,  and  thou  shalt  bring  forth  my 
people  out  of  Egypt"  (ver.  lo). 

This  chapter  is  also  remarkable  for  the  first  revelation 
(repeated  in  chap,  vi.)  of  the  sacred  name  of  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  the  name  by  which  He  was 
to  be  known  to  all  subsequent  generations.  This  name  in 
the  Hebrew  is  niH'' — called  the  tetragramjnatoji — the  four 
letters.  But  in  adding  the  vowel  points  to  this  name,  the 
Jews  did  not  add  the  vowels  which  were  intended  to  vocalise 
those  four  consonants,  but  the  vowels  which  vocalise  the 
consonants  "tJl^^,  "  the  Lord,"  and  therefore  in  reading  the 
Scriptures  they  always  read  the  sacred  name  as  Adonai — 
rendered  in  the  LXX.  Kvptos,  in  the  Vulgate  Dominus,  in 
the  A.V.  "the  Lord,"  except  at  Exod.  vi.  3,  where  it  is 
rendered  Adonai  in  the  Vulgate,  and  Jehovah  in  the  A.V. 
The  meaning  of  the  sacred  name  is  explained  in  Exod.  iii. 
14,  where,  in  answer  to  the  question,  "  When  they  shall  say  to 
me.  What  is  His  Name  ?  what  shall  I  say  unto  them  ?  God 
said  unto  Moses  I  am  that  I  am  :  Thou  shalt  say  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  I  am  hath  sent  me  unto  you."  Here  we 
learn  that  the  name  which  we  commonly  call  Jehovah  is 
derived  from  the  verb  nTI,  "to  be,"  and  signifies  the  self- 
existence,  and  also  the  immutabihty  of  God,  "the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever"  (Heb.  xiii.  8).  There 
seems  to  be  an  allusion  to  this  verse  in  John  viii.  58,  and  in 
Rev.  i.  8.  This  absolute  unchangeableness  of  God,  "with 
whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning"  (Jas.  i. 
17),  and  whose  own  record  of  Himself  is  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I 
change  not"  (Mai.  iii.  6),  is  a  wonderful  truth  full  of  comfort 
and  support  to  man,  placed  as  he  is  in  a  world  full  of 
change,  and  in  the  midst  of  people  constantly  fluctuating 
in  their  opinions  and  in  their  practice.     To  understand  it, 


EXODUS  91 

and  hold  it  fast,  is  "an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and 
steadfast." 

It  is  worth  noticing  from  Ex.  iii.  19  that  the  name  by 
which  the  people  were  known  was  still  "  the  Hebrews,"  as 
in  Gen.  xHii.  32  ;  Exod.  i.  15,  16,  19  ;  ii.  6,  9,  11.  We  find 
the  name  first  applied  to  Abraham  in  Gen.  xiv.  13.  And 
Joseph  is  called  a  Hebrew  (Gen.  xxxix.  14,  17  ;  xli.  12),  and 
said  that  he  was  stolen  from  "the  land  of  the  Hebrews" 
(Gen.  xl.  15).  In  all  which  passages  the  name  seems  to 
mean  "  one  from  the  other  side  the  river  Euphrates,"  from 
the  common  phrase  "inan  "iny^  "on  the  other  side  of  the 
river."  But  Gen.  x.  21,  and  xi.  14-17,  suggests  its  being 
a  patronymic  from  Heber.  The  name  "Hebrew"  is  more 
usually  applied  to  the  race  by  foreigners,  or  by  Israelites 
when  speaking  to  foreigners,  or  contrasting  themselves  with 
foreigners.  But  the  Hebrews  call  themselves  "children  of 
Israel"  or  Israelites. 

In  ver.  22  it  should  be  noted  that  the  word  in  the  A.V., 
"borrowed,"  conveys  a  very  false  notion  of  the  Hebrew 
word.  The  English  word  "  to  borrow  "  means  to  obtain  the 
present  use  of  somebody  else's  property  on  conditions  of 
restoring  it.  The  Hebrew  word  ^N^  means  simply  "to 
ask,"  or  "demand,"  without  any  such  condition  being  at- 
tached. See  xi.  1-3  ;  xii.  35,  36.  In  xii.  36,  again,  the  A.V. 
"lent"  conveys  a  meaning  which  is  not  in  the  original. 
The  R.V.,  "  let  them  have,"  is  far  more  exact.  The  Hebrew 
word  is  the  exact  correlative  of  the  word  to  "ask,"  in  ver.  22, 
being  another  conjunction  of  the  same  verb  ;  it  represents 
the  action  of  the  person  who  complies  with  the  demands. 

Chap.  iv.  gives  the  completion  of  the  appointment  of  Moses 
to  his  great  mission.  It  displays  his  unwillingness  to  accept 
the  office  to  which  God  called  him  ;  tells  of  the  miraculous 
powers  bestowed  upon  him  to  give  him  confidence  ;  his 
continued  unwillingness  notwithstanding,  pleading  his  want 
of  eloquence,  and  urging  the  appointment  of  some  one  else 
in  his  place  (vers.  10-13)  5  the  addition  of  Aaron  as  his  coad- 
jutor and  mouthpiece,  and  then  finally  Moses'  acceptance 
of  the  office  which  has  made   his   name   illustrious   in   all 


92  THE  PENTATEUCH 

succeeding  ages ;  his  friendly  parting  with  Jethro  his 
brother-in-law,  and  his  final  departure  with  his  wife  and 
children  for  Egypt.  The  text,  iv.  20,  mentions  Moses'  "  chil- 
dren "  or  "  sons  "  in  the  plural  number,  though  the  birth  of 
the  eldest  only  has  been  mentioned  in  Exod.  ii.  22.  But  in 
the  Vulgate  version  of  that  passage  there  is  this  addition  : 
"  And  she  bare  him  another  son,  whom  he  called  Eliezer  ; 
saying,  for  the  God  of  my  fathers,  who  is  my  helper,  hath 
delivered  me  from  the  hand  of  Pharaoh,"  a  passage  which 
occurs  in  the  Hebrew  of  Exod.  xviii.  4.  It  appears  from 
Exod.  xviii.  5  that  Eliezer  was  born  prior  to  Moses'  de- 
parture from  Midian,  and  it  was  doubtless  with  respect  to 
the  youngest  child  Eliezer  that  the  mysterious  incident  related 
in  Exod.  iv.  24-26  took  place.  His  circumcision  had  been 
neglected,  perhaps  from  Zipporah's  reluctance  to  have  it 
performed,  and  so  when  they  reached  their  camping-place 
for  the  night  the  angel  of  the  Lord  (as  the  LXX.  rightly 
explains  it)  in  some  way,  not  clearly  defined,  threatened 
Moses'  life,  giving  him  to  understand  that  it  was  on  account 
of  the  neglect  to  circumcise  his  son.  Zipporah,  apparently 
frightened,  hastily  circumcised  him,  and  then  the  angel  let 
Moses  go.  Zipporah  by  her  petulant  words  and  action 
showed  how  unwillingly  she  had  consented  to  her  child's 
circumcision.  It  was  probably  now  that  she  returned  for  a 
while  to  her  own  country,  either  from  her  temper  being 
ruffled,  or  because  her  son  was  not  fit  to  travel,  and  Moses 
could  not  wait  (Exod.  xviii.  2).  But  the  whole  narrative  is 
so  concise  that  much  is  left  to  conjecture. 

The  chapter  closes  with  a  touching  description  of  the 
reception  of  Moses  and  Aaron  by  the  elders  of  Israel,  and 
the  devout  thankfulness  with  which  they  learnt  that  the  time 
of  their  deliverance  was  at  hand.  Aaron  was  the  spokesman 
in  accordance  with  ver.  16. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  similar  in  some  respects 
the  mission  of  Moses  was  to  that  afterwards  given  to  the 
Apostles  by  our  Lord  Himself  Thus  in  Exod.  iii.  14,  20 ; 
iv.  II,  23,  and  elsewhere,  there  are  distinct  assertions  of 
God's  power  in  order  to  enable  Moses  and  Aaron  to  enter 


EXODUS  93 

upon  their  work  with  confidence  ;  and  so  in  Matt,  xxviii.  i8, 
Jesus  prefaces  His  commission  to  the  Apostles  with  the 
assurance,  "All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth."  In  Exod.  iv.  12,  15  we  have  the  promise  twice 
repeated,  "  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach  thee  what 
thou  shalt  say  ; "  in  Matt,  xxviii.  20  the  Lord  says,  "  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 
When  God  sent  Moses  on  his  mission  He  prefaced  it  with 
the  gift  of  power  to  work  miracles  (Exod.  iv.  1-9).  When  the 
Lord  sent  forth  the  seventy  He  gave  them  "power  to  tread  on 
serpents  and  scorpions,  and  over  all  the  power  of  the  enemy," 
and  "to  heal  the  sick"  (Luke  x.  9,  19) ;  when  He  sent  forth 
the  twelve  He  said  to  them,  "  Heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers, 
raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils"  (Matt.  x.  8).  Both  missions, 
that  of  Moses  to  bring  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  that  of  the 
Apostles  to  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  were  successful, 
because  the  Lord  worked  with  them,  confirming  His  word 
by  the  mouth  of  His  servants  with  signs  following  (Mark 
xvi.  20). 

Chaps,  v.-xii.  30.— The  Struggle  with  Pharaoh. 

These  chapters  contain  the  history  of  that  struggle  of 
Moses  and  Aaron  with  Pharaoh,  after  the  return  of  Moses 
from  Midian,  which  ended  in  the  Exodus.  It  is  a  curious 
and  instructive  instance,  on  a  small  scale,  of  the  conflict 
which  is  ever  going  on,  on  a  large  scale,  between  the 
ministers  of  God's  work  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  agents 
of  Satan  on  the  other.  Thus,  e.g:,  we  read  in  Acts  xiii.  how 
Elymas  the  sorcerer  withstood  Barnabas  and  Saul,  and 
sought  to  turn  away  Sergius  Paulus  from  the  faith,  and 
St.  Paul  compares  the  heretical  teachers  of  his  day,  who, 
he  says,   "  resist  the  truth,"  to  Jannes  and  Jambres,*  the 

*  These  names  of  the  magicians  are  preserved  by  St.  Paul  from 
some  sovirce  which  has  been  lost.  Curiously  enough,  Pliny  (Hist. 
Natur.,  XXX.  i)  names  Jannes  as  co-founder  with  Moses  of  the  school 
of  magic  in  Cyprus, 


94  THE  PENTATEUCH 

magicians  "  who  withstood  Moses  ; "  and  adds  that  their 
folly  shall  be  manifest  to  all  men,  as  was  that  of  the  Egyptian 
magicians. 

The  contest  began  by  the  request  made  to  Pharaoh  by 
Moses  and  Aaron  for  permission  to  the  children  of  Israel 
to  go  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness  to  hold  a  feast 
unto  the  Lord  ;  because,  as  Moses  said  (chap.  viii.  26),  "  the 
sacrifices  which  they  would  have  to  offer  unto  the  Lord, 
would  be  an  abomination  to  the  Egyptians,  who  would  stone 
them,  if  they  saw  them."  The  immediate  effect  of  this 
request  was  to  increase  greatly  the  rigour  of  the  oppression. 
Instead  of  giving  the  permission  asked,  Pharaoh  accused 
Moses  and  Aaron  of  letting,  i.e.^  hindering,  the  people  from 
their  work,  and  sternly  bid  them  "  Get  you  to  your  burdens." 
The  labour  of  the  people  was  immensely  increased  by  with- 
drawing the  supplies  of  straw  hitherto  made  to  them,  and 
yet  requiring  the  same  tale  of  bricks  as  before  (vers.  6-19). 
And  the  foremen  were  subjected  to  the  indignity  of  being 
beaten  by  Pharaoh's  task-masters,  because  the  workmen 
under  them  did  not  do  that  which  was  impossible.  Truly 
they  were  in  a  bad  case,  and  we  cannot  be  surprised  that 
they  began  to  murmur  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  whose 
interference  had  so  greatly  aggravated  their  sufferings  (vers. 
20-23). 

It  is  a  distinct  touch  of  nature,  and  also  a  mark  of  the 
severity  of  the  oppression,  that  when  Moses  announced  these 
glad  tidings  to  the  people,  they  were  in  a  state  of  such 
anguish  and  despondency  that  they  hearkened  not  to  him  ; 
and  Moses  himself  was  so  disheartened  by  the  reception  of 
his  message  by  the  children  of  Israel,  that  he  shrunk  back 
from  his  renewed  mission  to  Pharaoh  (vi.  12). 

The  chapter  closes,  as  we  have  seen  before  at  important 
junctures  in  the  history,  with  a  genealogy  of  the  persons 
about  to  play  the  chief  part  in  the  ensuing  transactions. 
For  although  the  genealogy  opens  with  the  pedigrees  of 
Reuben  and  Simeon,  Jacob's  two  eldest  sons,  as  does  that 
in  Gen.  xlvi.  8  ff.,  yet  it  is  the  pedigree  of  Levi,  Jacob's  third 
son  (Gen.  xxxv.  23),  with  which  we  have  to  do,  because  it  is 


EXODUS  95 

that  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  who  are  the  chief  actors  in  the 
ensuing  history. 

The  four  generations  after  Jacob,  spoken  of  in  Gen.  xv.  i6, 
are  here  most  distinctly  enumerated — Levi,  Kohath,  Amram, 
Moses  ;  and  the  truth  of  them  is  purposely  corroborated  by 
mentioning  the  ages  of  Levi,  Kohath,  and  Amram.  The 
ages  of  Moses  and  Aaron  at  the  time  of  entering  upon  their 
mission  to  Pharaoh,  viz.,  eighty  and  eighty-three,  are  also 
given  at  chap.  vii.  7,  showing  that  it  was  quite  possible  for 
four  such  generations  to  span  the  time  of  the  sojourning  of 
the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  at  least  if  that  time  is  taken  at  about 
220  years — a  time  with  which  all  the  other  genealogies  agree, 
as  we  have  already  seen  (Gen.  xxxvii.-xlv.).  The  statement 
in  some  commentaries,  which  adopt  430  years  as  the  time  of 
the  actual  sojourn  in  Egypt  (Speaker's  Commentary,  Bishop 
EUicot's  Commentary),  that  Joshua's  genealogy  comprises  "at 
least  eleven  generations,"  is  quite  erroneous.  Joshua's  genea- 
logy is  as  follows  : — (i)  Joseph,  (2)  Ephraim,  (3)  Shuthelah, 
(4j  Eran,  (5)  Ammihud,  (6)  Elishama,  (7)  Non  or  Nun,  (8) 
Joshua  (Num  xxvi.  35,  36  ;  i  Chron.  vii.  20-27)  ;  where  it 
must  be  noted  that  Laadan  is  no  name  at  all,  but  merely. 

Eran^  with  the  prefix  (j,  "of,"  as  in  Num.  xxvi.  36  (j*^)^?  and 
py^),  and  that  Joshua's  grandfather  Elishama  was  captain 
of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  at  the  Exodus  (Num.  ii.  18),  so  that 
Joshua  is  really  one  or  two  generations  later  than  the 
Exodus. 

Notice  also  the  continued  longevity  of  man.  Levi  dies  at 
the  age  of  137  years,  Kohath  133  years,  Amram  137  years  ; 
and  Aaron  and  Moses  are  83  and  80  years  old  respectively, 
when  they  enter  upon  the  great  work  of  their  lives. 

The  following  chapters,  down  to  xii.  30,  contain  the  curious 
history  of  the  struggle  between  Moses  and  Pharaoh,  or  of 
the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt.  The  contest  began  by  Moses 
and  Aaron  going  in  to  Pharaoh  to  ask  leave  for  the  children 
of  Israel  to  go  into  the  wilderness  to  sacrifice  to  the  Lord 
their  God  ;  and,  as  the  proof  of  their  divine  mission,  Aaror, 
at  Moses'  bidding,  cast  down  his  rod,  and  it  became  a 
serpent.     But  the  Egyptian  magicians  did  the  same  by  their 


96  THE  PENTATEUCH 

enchantments,  and  so  Pharaoh  was  hardened  and  refused  to 
let  Israel  go.  Then  followed  the  ten  plagues,  (i)  the  waters 
of  the  Nile  were  turned  into  blood  and  the  fish  died  ;  (2) 
then  came  the  plague  of  frogs  which  filled  all  the  houses  of 
the  Egyptians  ;  (3)  the  dust  of  the  land  became  an  intolerable 
plague  of  lice,  or,  as  some  render  it,  mosquitos  ;  (4)  swarms 
of  flies  filled  the  house  of  Pharaoh,  and  of  the  Egyptians,  and 
all  the  land,  except  only  the  land  of  Goshen,  where  the 
Israelites  lived  ;  (5)  a  grievous  murrain  on  the  cattle,  horses 
and  asses  and  camels,  and  oxen  and  sheep,  except  those  of 
the  Israelites  ;  (6)  boils  and  blains  breaking  out  on  man 
and  beast,  including  the  magicians,  and  all  the  Egyptians  ; 
(7)  a  grievous  hail,  with  terrific  thunder  and  lightning,  which 
is  described  as  being  very  grievous,  such  as  there  was  none 
like  it  in  all  the  land  of  Egypt  since  it  became  a  nation  ;  (8) 
locusts  filled  the  land  and  the  houses  of  the  Egyptians,  and 
devoured  every  herb  of  the  field,  and  every  fruit  which  had 
escaped  the  hail ;  (9)  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  toward 
heaven,  and  there  fell  a  thick  darkness  over  all  the  land  of 
Egypt :  for  three  days  they  could  not  see  one  another, 
only  the  houses  of  the  Israehtes  had  light ;  (10)  the  last 
plague  which  closed  the  struggle  was  the  death  of  the  first- 
born, which  is  thus  described  (Exod.  xii.  29)  :  "  It  came  to 
pass  that  at  midnight  the  Lord  smote  all  the  first-born  in 
the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the  first-born  of  Pharaoh  that  sat 
on  his  throne,  unto  the  first-born  of  the  captive  that  was  in 
the  dungeon,  and  all  the  first-born  of  the  cattle.  And  Pharaoh 
arose  in  the  night,  he  and  all  his  servants,  and  all  the 
Egyptians  ;  and  there  was  a  great  cry  in  Egypt,  for  there 
was  not  a  house  where  there  was  not  one  dead." 

Thus  ended  this  remarkable  struggle  of  the  Midianite 
shepherd,  the  timid  man,  slow  of  speech,  and  of  uncircum- 
cised  hps,  with  the  mightiest  monarch  upon  earth,  backed 
by  his  counsellors,  his  magicians,  and  his  armed  hosts  ; 
leaving  a  lesson  to  all  ages  and  to  all  classes  of  men  in 
every  age,  whether  kings  or  people,  that  the  power  of  God 
is  irresistible,  and  that  He  orders  all  things  after  the  counsel 
of  His  own  will ;  and  that  none  can  stay  His  hand,  or  say 


EXODUS  97 

"  What  doest  Thou  ! "  Leaving  a  lesson,  too,  to  be  repeated 
again  and  again  as  the  world  rolls  on  in  its  course,  that  "God 
hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
wise  ;  and  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
things  which  are  mighty  .  .  .  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in 
His  presence." 

The  frequently  recurring  phrase,  "the  Lord  hardened 
Pharaoh's  heart"  (iv.  21  ;  ix.  12  ;  x.  i,  20,  27  ;  xi.  10;  xiv. 
4,  8,  17),  requires  careful  consideration.  Perhaps  it  will  be 
a  help  towards  a  right  understanding  if  we  first  place  by 
their  side  the  phrases  which  speak  of  Pharaoh's  heart  being 
hard,  or  hardened,  or  of  Pharaoh  hardening  his  own  heart. 
They  are  as  follows  :  vii.  13,*  14,22;  viii.  15, 19,  32;  ix.  7,34,  35. 
Here  the  first  thing  that  strikes  one  is  that,  with  the  exception 
of  iv,  21,  which  describes,  not  what  had  happened,  but  what 
was  going  to  happen,  in  all  the  earlier  passages  the  phrases 
are  "  Pharaoh  hardened  his  heart,"  or  "  his  heart  was  hard- 
ened ;"  and  that  it  is  not  till  this  phrase  has  been  used  re- 
peatedly, that  we  light  upon  the  other,  "  the  Lord  hardened 
Pharaoh's  heart."  And  this  naturally  suggests  the  idea  that 
this  hardening  of  Pharaoh's  heart  by  God  was  the  judicial 
consequence  of  Pharaoh's  resisting  again  and  again,  in  "his 
hardness  and  impenitent  heart,"  the  clear  message  addressed 
to  him  by  God.  And  hence  we  draw  the  fearful  lesson,  which 
our  daily  experience  confirms,  that  every  act  of  sin  hardens 
the  heart  and  blunts  the  conscience,  and  makes  repentance 
more  difficult.  And  as  this  is  a  law  in  God's  government 
of  the  universe,  it  cannot  be  improper  to  ascribe  to  God 
Himself  every  fulfilment  of  this  law  in  the  case  of  an  in- 
dividual. 

Viewing  the  history,  including  the  Exodus,  as  a  whole, 
what  a  striking  epitome  it  is  of  the  course  of  God's  Church 
in  this  world.  The  ungodly  resisting  and  striving  against 
the  will  and  purpose  of  God  ;  spiritual  wickedness,  repre- 
sented by  the  magicians,  conspiring  with  earthly  power,  as 
represented  by  Pharaoh,  to  destroy  the  kingdom  of  God, 

*  Mistranslated  in  the  A.V.,  but  correctly  in  the  R.V.,  "  Pharaoh's 
heart  was  hardened."     Marg.  Heb.  "  was  strong." 

5.   T.  G 


98  THE  PENTATEUCH 

and  persecute  the  people  of  God  :  the  servants  of  God,  re- 
presented by  Moses  and  Aaron,  standing  up  boldly  and 
declaring  the  will  of  God  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  ;  and  at 
last,  in  spite  of  their  personal  weakness,  triumphing  over 
the  whole  power  of  their  adversaries.  Or,  looking  at  it  in 
another  light,  we  see  a  no  less  striking  allegorical  picture 
of  the  deliverance  of  the  faithful  "from  the  bondage  of 
corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God." 

The  following  passages  in  the  New  Testament  throw  light 
upon  the  section  we  have  been  considering  :  Rom.  ix.  15- 
24  ;  I  Cor.  X.  1-4;  2  Tim.  iii.  8,  9;  Acts  vii.  17-36;  xiii. 
17  ;  Heb.  xi.  23-27.     See  too  Ps.  cv.  24-38  ;  cvi.  21,  22. 

Chap.  xii.  1-28  contains  the  institution  of  the  Passover 
immediately  before  the  slaying  of  the  first-born.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  these  directions  must  have  been  given  some  little 
time  before  that  fatal  night,  to  give  the  Israelites  time  to 
prepare  the  lamb  whose  blood  was  to  be  sprinkled  upon 
their  doorposts,  and  to  make  the  other  necessary  prepara- 
tions. It  would  require  some  time  also  for  Moses  to  gather 
together  the  elders,  and  for  the  elders  to  communicate  with 
the  people.  The  language  of  chap.  xii.  3,  4  shows  that  this 
was  the  case.  For  the  message  to  Moses  and  Aaron  was 
given  in  the  month  Abib,  and  before  the  tenth  day  of  the 
month.  Whereas  the  lamb  was  to  be  killed  on  the  14th 
of  Abib  (ver.  6).  We  may  therefore  conclude  that  the  in- 
structions were  given  to  Moses  some  time  in  the  first  week 
of  the  month  Abib  ;  and  hence  we  see  at  once  that  the 
phrase  in  the  A.V.  of  ver.  12,  "I  will  pass  through  the  land 
of  Egypt  this  night,"  does  not  mean  the  night  of  the  day 
on  which  the  Lord  was  speaking,  but  the  night  of  which 
He  was  speaking  as  about  to  come — better  rendered  there- 
fore in  the  R.V.,  '■'■that  night,"  and  actually  so  rendered 
in  the  A.V.  of  ver.  8,  "  in  that  night,"  where  the  Hebrew 
words  are  the  same  as  in  ver.  12. 

Hence  also  it  follows  that  the  contents  of  chap.  xii.  1-28 
precede  in  point  of  time  the  events  of  chap.  xi.  The  main 
narrative,  which  ended  at  xi.  8,  is  interrupted,  as  is  so 
common  in  Hebrew  narratives,  to  introduce  the  collateral 


EXODUS  99 

matter  of  xii.  1-28,  which  was  necessary  to  make  the  story 
intelligible  ;  and  then  xii.  29  takes  up  the  main  narrative 
again,  as  appears  clearly  by  the  midnight  of  xi.  4,  and  that 
of  xii.  29.     See  remarks  on  Gen.  ii.  4  ff.,  and  xii.  i. 


Chaps,  xii.  31-xviii. — The  Exodus  of  Israel. 

The  glorious  Exodus  has  begun.  The  bitter  wail  in  every 
Egyptian  house,  from  the  palace  to  the  prison,  is  ringing 
through  the  land.  Pharaoh  has  risen  at  midnight  in  terror 
and  agony  of  spirit.  He  has  sent  in  haste  to  summon  to 
his  aid  that  Moses  and  Aaron  whom  he  had  driven  ignomi- 
niously  from  his  presence  perhaps  but  a  few  hours  before. 
The  Israelites  have  eaten  their  first  Passover  in  haste.  The 
Lord  has  covered  with  the  shield  of  His  protection  every 
home  which  was  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  the  Paschal 
Lamb.  Pharaoh  and  all  the  Egyptians  urge  and  hasten 
their  departure.  They  load  them  with  gifts  to  quicken  and 
assist  their  movements.  In  their  haste,  the  Israelites  take 
their  unleavened  dough  with  their  kneading-troughs  bound 
up  with  their  clothes  upon  their  shoulders.  And  now  the 
whole  land  of  Goshen  is  in  movement.  The  women  and 
children  have  come  forth  from  their  houses,  equipped,  as 
best  they  may  be,  for  their  emigration  ;  a  mixed  multitude, 
consisting  partly  perhaps  of  herdsmen  and  shepherds,  ac- 
company them  ;  the  flocks  and  herds  are  being  driven  in 
haste  through  the  rich  pastures  ;  the  manhood  of  the  nation, 
to  the  number  of  600,000,  are  formed  into  bands,  doubtless 
according  to  their  tribes  ;  their  "armies,"  xii.  51,  as  in  Num. 
ii.  3,  9,  10,  in  "  hosts,"  as  the  same  word  is  rendered,  Num. 
ii.  4,  8,  (Sec,  marching  together  for  the  protection  of  the 
whole  company  ;  native  Egyptians  are  looking  on  in  wonder 
and  amazement  at  what  is  going  on,  but  not  a  finger  is 
lifted  up  against  them,  or  in  the  expressive  language  of 
chap.  xi.  7,  not  a  dog  moved  his  tongue  against  either  man 
or  beast.  Egypt  is,  as  it  were,  paralysed,  while  those  who 
had  been  their  slaves  for  upwards  of  a  hundred  years  go 


loo  THE  PENTATEUCH 

forth  unhindered,  turning  their  backs  for  ever  upon  the 
brick-kilns,  and  the  slave-master's  sticks,  and  the  treasure 
cities  of  Pithom  and  Rameses,  so  often  watered  with  their 
tears,  and  marching  on  to  victory  and  freedom.  Wonderful 
and  glorious  monument  of  the  power  and  faithfulness  of 
God  !  wonderful  and  glorious  presage  of  the  redemption 
and  triumph  of  God's  Church  ! 

They  first  reach  Succoth  (xii.  37),  according  to  Brugsch's 
map,  some  eight  or  ten  miles  due  east  of  Rameses,  and 
identified  by  him  with  the  modern  Thukot ;  and  here  they 
baked  cakes  of  the  unleavened  dough  which  they  had 
brought  out  of  Egypt,  thus  keeping  the  feast  of  unleavened 
bread,  which  was  an  essential  part  of  the  Passover  (ver.  39). 
It  does  not  appear  how  long  they  halted  at  Succoth.  But 
their  next  move,  doubtless  without  unnecessary  delay,  was 
to  "  Etham,  in  the  edge  of  the  wilderness  "  (xiii.  20),  where 
they  encamped.  The  expression  in  xiv.  2,  "  that  they  turn 
and  encamp  before  Pi-hahiroth,"  seems  to  indicate  that  it 
was  at  this  point  that  they  changed  the  direction  of  their 
march,  and  instead  of  going  the  shortest  route  by  the  way  of 
the  Philistines  (xiii.  17),  turned  due  south,  and  encamped 
between  Migdol  and  the  sea,  before  Pi-hahiroth,  over  against 
Baal-zephon  (xiv.  2).  But  the  geography  is  so  uncertain, 
owing  to  changes  in  the  sea  and  the  neighbouring  lakes, 
and  the  situation  of  the  places  named  being  unknown,  that 
it  is  not  safe  to  speak  positively.  All  that  can  be  affirmed 
with  safety  is  that  at  some  point  of  their  journey,  instead  of 
marching  eastwards  to  Philistia,  they  turned  southward,  and 
came  near  to  the  north-western  shore  of  the  Red  Sea.  Their 
situation  was  now  one  of  great  peril  :  the  sea  was  before 
them,  and  the  wilderness  which  they  had  left  (xiii.  20)  was 
now  closed  to  them,  as  some  render  the  words  in  xiv.  3. 

Pharaoh  heard  of  the  direction  they  had  taken,  and  thought 
that  at  last  his  opportunity  was  come.  So  he  ordered  his 
war  chariot  in  haste,  called  out  his  army,  600  chosen 
chariots,  and  pursued  after  them.  He  found  them  en- 
camped by  the  sea  beside  Pi-hahiroth.  The  terror  of  the 
Israelites  when  they  saw  in  the  distance  Pharaoh's  army 


EXODUS  loi 

approaching,  broke  out  into  murmurs  and  reproaches  against 
Moses  for  having  brought  them  into  such  straits.  Why  had 
he  not  left  them  to  die  in  Egypt  ?  "  Fear  not  ;  stand  still 
and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord,  which  He  will  show  you 
to-day.  The  Egyptians  whom  ye  have  seen  to-day,  ye  shall 
see  them  again  no  more  for  ever,"  was  the  answer  of  Moses. 
Night  was  now  approaching,  and  the  pillar  of  cloud  which 
had  hitherto  gone  before  the  Israelites  to  lead  them  the 
way  (xiii.  21,  22),  now  removed  and  stood  behind  them, 
between  them  and  the  host  of  Egypt — casting  a  bright  light 
upon  the  Israelites,  so  as  to  facilitate  all  their  movements 
and  preparations,  but  showing  as  a  cloud  of  impenetrable 
darkness  to  the  whole  camp  of  the  Egyptians.  Meanwhile 
Moses  had  stretched  out  his  rod  over  the  sea,  and  a  strong 
wind  had  arisen  which  drove  back  the  waters  at  the  head 
of  the  sea  to  the  north  and  divided  them,  so  as  to  leave  a 
broad  passage  of  dry  land  between  the  waters  on  one  side 
and  those  on  the  other.  The  Israelites,  having  been  fully 
prepared,  at  once  go  forward  on  the  way  made  ready  for 
them  ;  and  we  may  well  suppose  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
sped  their  way  with  more  than  human  help,  and  hastened 
their  passage  to  the  other  side.  The  width  of  the  sea  where 
they  crossed  may  probably  not  have  been  above  a  mile. 

Whether  the  pillar  of  cloud  removed,  and  thus  revealed 
the  flight  of  the  Israelites,  or  whether  the  sound  of  the 
movement  of  so  great  a  multitude  reached  the  ears  of  the 
Egyptians,  it  was  still  night  when  the  Egyptians  became 
aware  of  their  departure,  which  must  have  seemed  to  them 
an  impossibility,  with  the  sea  in  front  of  them.  They  at 
once  pursued  them,  and  seeing  the  passage  of  dry  land  by 
which  the  Israelites  were  still  making  their  escape,  they 
boldly  went  after  them  into  the  midst  of  the  sea.  But  here 
arose  a  scene  of  indescribable  confusion.  Somewhere  about 
the  middle  of  the  passage  the  chariot  wheels  stuck  in  the 
muddy  bottom.  The  plunging  of  the  horses  only  increased 
the  evil.  Some  appearance  from  the  pillar  of  cloud  sent  a 
sudden  panic  through  the  whole  Egyptian  host.  They  felt 
that  God  was  fighting  for  Israel  against  them.     They  were 


102  THE  PENTATEUCH 

eager  to  turn  back,  and  regain  the  western  shore.  But  how 
could  they  ?  There  was  no  room  to  manoeuvre  in  the  narrow 
passage,  where  perhaps  at  most  three  chariots  could  stand 
abreast.  Indecision  must  have  arisen — some  seeing  the 
difficulty  of  returning  would  urge  pressing  forward — others 
seeing  the  difficulty  of  advancing  would  insist  upon  turning 
back.  Fear  had  banished  discipline  and  paralysed  decisive 
action. 

And  now  an  unsuspected  danger  was  at  hand.  The  last 
rank  of  the  Israelites  had  reached  the  eastern  shore,  and 
the  morning  light  was  just  breaking  upon  the  strange  scene, 
when  Moses,  at  God's  bidding,  again  stretched  out  his  hand 
over  the  sea  :  the  waters  returned  in  their  strength,  perhaps 
with  the  flowing  tide ;  the  Egyptians  in  vain  struggled 
against  the  flood  ;  one  by  one  the  chariots  sank  in  the  deep  ; 
the  horses  and  the  heavy  armed  warriors,  the  flower  of  the 
Egyptian  cavalry,  were  overwhelmed  ;  not  one  escaped. 

Pharaoh  himself,  the  cowardly  Menephthah,  whose  care 
for  his  personal  safety  on  another  occasion  is  recorded  on 
the  monuments,  does  not  seem  to  have  fallen  on  this  occa- 
sion. He  probably  waited  with  his  infantry  on  the  western 
shore,  expecting  the  return  of  his  chariots.  When  he  saw 
the  terrible  catastrophe  he  seems  to  have  sneaked  back  to 
his  own  country,  and  to  have  passed  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
obscurity.  For  we  hear  nothing  about  him  in  the  monu- 
ments, in  the  closing  years  of  his  reign. 

The  magnificent  song  of  Moses  (Rev.  xv.  3)  which 
occupies  chap.  xv.  1-18,  is  a  fitting  and  worthy  celebration 
of  this,  perhaps  the  greatest  event  in  the  whole  history  of 
Israel.  Subsequent  allusions  to  it  by  the  Prophets  and 
Psalmists  of  Israel  show  what  an  indelible  impression  it  had 
left  upon  the  mind  and  sentiment  of  the  people.  See  Ps. 
Ixxiv.  13;  Ixxvi.  19,  20;  Ixxviii.  12,  13;  cxiv.  1-8;  cxxxvi. 
13-15;  Isa.  xliii.  16,  17;  li.  9,  10;  Jer.  xvi.  14;  Nahum  i. 
4,&c. 

The  Israelites  were  now  fairly  delivered  from  Egyptian 
bondage.  The  sea  stood  between  them  and  their  oppressors. 
They  left  Pharaoh  and  his  army   and  his   people  cowed 


EXODUS  T03 

and  dismayed.  They  were  a  free  and  independent  people 
on  their  way  to  take  possession  of  their  promised  inheritance 
in  Canaan.  But  their  trials  were  not  over  yet,  and  they 
needed  yet  much  more  training  to  tame  their  rebellious 
spirit,  and  teach  them  patience,  submission,  and  trust  in 
God.  Their  first  trial  was  at  the  waters  of  Marah.  After 
three  days'  journeying  in  the  wilderness  of  Shur,  during 
which  they  had  found  no  water,  they  lit  upon  an  abundant 
supply  at  Marah.  We  can  imagine  the  eagerness  with 
which  the  weaiy,  thirsty  people  flocked  to  slake  their  thirst. 
What  was  their  disappointment  when  they  found  that  the 
water  was  brackish,  and  they  could  not  drink  it.  A  great 
murmur  arose  against  Moses  who  had  brought  them  to 
such  straits.  "  Wherefore  hast  thou  brought  us  out  of 
Egypt  to  kill  us  and  our  cattle  with  thirst  ? "  or  some  such 
complaint  burst  forth  from  10,000  lips.  Past  mercies,  past 
deliverances,  gracious  promises,  glorious  hopes,  all  in  one 
moment  forgotten,  under  the  pressure  of  the  present  griev- 
ance. What  a  picture  of  human  ingratitude  and  unbelief ! 
What  a  lesson  to  us  not  to  despond  under  every  trial,  but, 
while  we  feel  our  own  weakness  and  helplessness  in  our- 
selves, to  trust,  without  doubting,  the  power  and  faithfulness 
of  God. 

In  this  case  the  remedy  was  soon  found.  The  voice  of 
prayer  from  Moses  brought  a  quick  answer  from  God. 
"  The  Lord  showed  him  a  tree,  which  when  he  had  cast  into 
the  waters  the  waters  were  made  sweet."  How  far  the  effect 
was  natural  and  how  far  supernatural,  is  difficult  to  decide. 
Judging  from  the  analogy  of  other  miracles  recorded  in  the 
Bible,  it  seems  probable  that  the  natural  qualities  of  the  plant 
in  question  were  heightened  so  as  to  sweeten  the  whole 
waters.  Many  travellers  identify  Marah  with  the  modern 
Howarah,  where  the  water  is  still  brackish.  But  the  whole 
topography  is  still  somewhat  uncertain. 

There  is  something  rather  singular  in  the  way  in  which 
the  latter  part  of  ver.  25  is  introduced.  It  looks  like  the 
language  of  some  contemporary  poem,  after  the  analogy  of 
Num.  xxi.  14-18.     The  healing  of  the  waters  of  Marah  is 


I04  THE  PENTATEUCH 

represented  as  a  type  or  image  of  that  health  and  prosperity 
which  God  promised  to  Israel  if  he  would  be  obedient  to  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  his  God.     Compare  Deut.  vi.  16-18. 

The  encampment  at  Elim,  with  its  twelve  wells  of  re- 
freshing water,  and  its  seventy-two  palm  trees,  affording 
shade  to  man  and  beast,  and  looking  beautiful  and  luxuriant 
in  the  midst  of  the  waste  dreary  wilderness,  is  an  apt  image 
of  those  times  of  rest  and  peace  and  joy  which  God  often 
vouchsafes  to  His  people  as  a  refreshment  after  seasons  of 
•trial  and  difficulty.  Even  so  after  that  the  bitter  persecutions 
which  arose  upon  the  death  of  Stephen,  and  for  a  time 
harassed  the  churches,  had  ceased  on  the  wonderful  conversion 
of  St.  Paul,  we  read,  "Then  had  the  churches  rest  throughout 
all  Judaea  and  Galilee  and  Samaria,  and  were  edified  ;  and 
walking  in  the  fear  of  God  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  were  multiplied"  (Acts  ix.  31). 

Chap.  xvi.  is  remarkable  for  two  events — the  flight  of  quails, 
and  the  giving  of  manna.  It  was  now  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
second  month  after  their  departure  from  Egypt,  and  we  can 
well  imagine  that  any  supply  of  provisions  which  they  had 
brought  out  of  Egypt,  eked  out,  as  doubtless  it  had  been,  by 
such  food  as  they  could  procure  in  the  wilderness,  or  from 
the  milk  of  their  flocks  or  the  occasional  slaughter  of  lambs, 
or  kids,  or  calves,  had  been  quite  exhausted.  They  had 
recently  escaped  the  danger  of  perishing  by  thirst,  and  now 
hunger  stared  them  in  the  face.  Perhaps  the  wilderness  of 
Sin,  where  they  now  were,  was  more  stony  and  afforded  less 
pasture  to  the  flocks,  which  consequently  gave  less  milk  ; 
anyhow  the  supplies  of  food  failed  them.  They  remembered 
the  fleshpots  of  Egypt,  and  the  plenty  with  which  they  filled 
their  bellies  there,  and  they  forgot  the  forced  labour  and  the 
task-master's  lash.  They  forgot,  too,  the  pillar  of  cloud 
which  went  before  them,  and  the  passage  through  the  Red 
Sea,  and  the  wonderful  overthrow  of  Pharaoh's  host  ;  they 
forgot  the  waters  of  Marah  sweetened  for  their  use  in  answer 
to  Moses'  prayer ;  and  so  they  broke  out  again  into  mur- 
muring against  Moses  and  Aaron.  Why  had  not  they  left 
them  to  die  a  natural  death  in  Egypt  ?     Had  they  brought 


EXODUS  105 

them  out  into  the  barren  wilderness  in  their  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  that  they  might  all  die  of  hunger  ?  Not  a 
thought  of  God  ;  not  a  particle  of  faith  and  trust  ;  not  one 
prayer  for  help  ;  not  one  humble  confession  of  weakness 
and  want ;  nothing  but  hard  unbelief;  no  sight  but  of  out- 
ward visible  things  and  second  causes  ;  and  utter  oblivion 
of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  !  But  He  was  there  in  the 
plenitude  of  His  power  and  mercy,  and  he  heard  their  mur- 
murings,  and  lo  !  His  forgotten  presence  flashed  out  in  an 
instant  from  the  pillar  of  cloud.  As  they  looked  towards 
it,  the  glory  of  the  Lord  revealed  itself  to  their  astonished 
vision.  Was  He  so  near  to  them  to  punish  or  to  save  them  ? 
A  few  hours  would  show.  The  sun  had  passed  the  meridian, 
and  was  declining  towards  the  west,  when  lo  !  the  sky  over 
the  camp  was  darkened  by  a  cloud  of  quails  returning  in 
their  annual  flight  from  Africa  to  Asia,  where  they  had  come 
in  the  autumn.  Exhausted  by  their  flight  across  the  Red  Sea 
they  fell  in  thousands  in  the  camp,  or  were  easily  knocked 
down,  and  captured  by  the  hand.  Israel's  evening  meal  was 
abundantly  supplied.*  But  the  Divine  power  and  mercy  to 
His  ungrateful  people  was  not  exhausted.  The  next  morning 
when  the  dew  went  up  there  remained  upon  the  ground  vast 
quantities  of  a  little  round  substance  which  they  were  bid 
gather  up  for  their  daily  supply,  and  which  continued  through 
the  forty  years  of  their  sojourn  in  the  wilderness  (Exod.  xvi. 
35  ;  Josh.  V.  12).  Its  name  of  manna,  or  rather,  as  it  is 
called  in  Hebrew,  Man,  is  said  to  have  been  derived  from  the 
exclamation  of  the  people  when  they  first  saw  it,  "  What  is 
it.-*"  (Exod.  xvi.  15,  R.V.  ;  Heb.  Ma?i  hu\  to  which  question 
Moses  answered, "  It  is  the  bread  which  the  Lord  hath  given 
you  to  eat."  Comp.  John  vi.  30-58  ;  Matt.  vi.  1 1  ;  2  Cor.  viii. 
15,  for  the  deep  spiritual  lessons  contained  in  this  section. 

*  For  an  account  of  a  still  larger  flight  of  quails  about  the  same  time 
of  the  following  year,  see  Num.  xii.  31-35.  For  an  interesting  account 
of  the  vast  numbers  in  which  quails  migrate,  see  Diet,  of  the  Bible, 
article  Quails.  Pliny  (Nat.  Hist.  x.  23)  speaks  of  the  flight  of  quails, 
when  exhausted  by  a  long  flight,  as  being  close  to  the  ground,  and  their 
numbers  so  great  as  to  sink  ships  when  they  light  upon  their  sails. 


io6  THE  PENTATEUCH 

Nor  must  we  forget  to  notice  carefully  the  remarkable 
sanction  given  to  the  Sabbath  by  the  cessation  of  the  manna 
on  the  seventh  day.  The  commandment  to  keep  holy  the 
sabbath  day  had  not  yet  been  given,  but  the  independence 
of  the  sabbath  of  the  legislation  from  Mount  Sinai  was 
marked  in  this,  that  on  the  sixth  day  they  found  they 
had  gathered  two  omers  for  each  man  instead  of  one,  and 
that  whereas  at  other  times,  if  they  attempted  to  keep  what 
they  had  gathered  till  the  next  day,  it  bred  worms  and  stank, 
the  extra  omer  gathered  on  the  sixth  day  was  fit  for  food 
on  the  seventh  day.  Moreover,  on  the  seventh  day  no 
manna  was  found  on  the  ground  :  showing  clearly  that  the 
original  blessing  on  the  seventh  day  (Gen.  ii.  3),  of  which 
traces  are  seen  in  Gen.  viii.  10,  12,  was  still  in  force,  and  that 
the  fourth  commandment  did  not  institute,  but  only  revised 
and  gave  new  sanction  to  the  day  of  rest — "  Remember  that 
thou  keep  holy  the  sabbath  day." 

The  scene  of  the  giving  of  manna  was  the  wilderness  of  Sin, 
between  Elim  and  Sinai.  Their  next  halt  was  at  Rephidim, 
and  here  again  recurred  the  peculiar  trial  of  wilderness 
life — the  scarcity  of  water.  "Give  us  water  that  we  may 
drink" — was  the  angry  cry  of  the  people.  "Wherefore 
hast  thou  brought  us  up  out  of  Egypt,  to  kill  us  and  our 
children,  and  our  cattle  with  thirst  ? "  was  their  rebellious, 
ungrateful,  unbelieving  cry.  But  God's  longsufifering  was 
not  yet  exhausted.  At  His  bidding  Moses  took  the  rod  with 
which  he  had  turned  the  waters  of  the  Nile  into  blood,  and, 
followed  by  the  elders  of  Israel,  went  to  a  certain  rock  in 
Horeb,  and  smote  it  with  his  rod.  Immediately  there  burst 
out  a  plentiful  supply  of  water  (Ps.  Ixxviii.  15,  16,  23-28  ;  cv. 
.40,41). 

A  similar  occurrence  to  that  at  Rephidim,  with  its  sad 
consequence  to  Moses  and  Aaron,  in  their  being  excluded 
from  entering  into  Canaan,  is  related  in  Num.  xx.  The 
allusion  in  i  Cor.  x.  4  seems  to  be  to  Exod.  xvii.  from  its 
close  connection  with  the  "  spiritual  meat,"  i.e.,  the  manna 
in  ver.  3.  We  should  carefully  note  the  constant  spiritual 
lessons  which  flow  from  the  historical  narrative,  and  give  it 


EXODUS  107 

a  divine  power  and  undying  influence  to  be  found  in  no 
other  history  in  the  world. 

The  residence  of  Israel  in  Rephidim  was  memorable  also 
for  the  victory  over  the  Amalekites.  The  Amalekites,  a  power- 
ful tribe  descended  from  Amalek,  the  grandson  of  Esau  (Gen. 
xxxvi.  12,  16),  and  dwelling  in  the  peninsula  of  Sinai,  came  to 
attack  the  Israelites.  Whether  they  thought  that  the  large 
number  of  cattle  would  interfere  with  their  own  rights  of 
pasture,  or  whether  they  were  actuated  by  the  hereditary 
hatred  of  Esau  and  Jacob,  does  not  appear.  But  it  was  an 
unpardonable  act  of  unprovoked  hostility  to  a  kindred 
people,  of  whose  deliverance  from  Egypt,  by  God's  special 
mercy,  they  must  have  been  informed,  and  in  attacking 
whom  they  were  defying  God  Himself.  How  great  their 
sin  was  in  the  sight  of  God  is  evident  from  the  terrible 
announcement  ordered  to  be  written  in  a  book  for  a  per- 
petual memorial :  "  I  will  utterly  put  out  the  remembrance 
of  Amalek  from  under  heaven."  There  were  some  peculiar 
features  of  atrocity,  too,  in  the  attack  of  the  Amalekites,  such 
,as  falling  upon  the  stragglers,  and  smiting  the  feeblest  of 
them  when  they  were  faint  and  weary,  which  heightened 
their  guilt,  and  drew  down  the  repetition  of  the  inexorable 
sentence,  "  Thou  shalt  blot  out  the  remembrance  of  Amalek 
from  under  heaven"  (Deut.  xxv.  17-19).  And  so  again  in 
Balaam's  grand  prophecy  we  read,  "Amalek  was  the  first 
of  the  nations,  but  his  latter  end  shall  be  that  he  perish  for 
ever "  (Num.  xxiv.  20).  These  terrible  denunciations  of  a 
guilty  nation  found  their  accomplishment  in  the  destruction 
of  the  Amalekites  by  King  Saul,  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
reign,  as  related  in  i  Sam.  xv.  It  is  in  this  encounter  with 
Amalek  that  we  first  hear  of  Joshua,  or,  as  his  name  then 
was,  Hoshea  the  son  of  Nun.  He  must  have  been  a  very 
young  man  indeed  at  this  time  ;  for,  as  we  learn  from  Num. 
i.  10;  ii.  18,  Elishama,  his  grandfather  (i  Chron.  vii.  26,  27), 
was  captain  of  the  host  of  Ephraim  in  the  second  year  after 
they  came  out  from  Egypt.  See  too  Exod.  xxxiii.  1 1,  where 
the  word  "li/i  denotes  quite  a  young  man. 

Young,  however,  as  he  was,  the  future  conqueror  of  Canaan 


ro8  THE  PENTATEUCH 

showed  already  those  qualifications  which  induced  Moses 
to  intrust  him  with  the  command  of  the  men  who  went  out 
to  fight  against  Amalek,  and  "  discomfited  them  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword,"  while  Moses,  on  the  top  of  the  hill  which 
overlooked  the  field  of  battle,  held  up  the  rod  of  God  in  his 
hand.  The  battle  seems  to  have  been  a  very  hard  fought 
one,  since  it  did  not  end  till  "  the  going  down  of  the  sun." 
Its  protracted  duration  is  also  seen  in  this,  that  while  the 
success  of  the  Israelites  depended  entirely  on  Moses'  rod 
being  held  out,  he  became  so  exhausted  that  Aaron  and 
Hur,  who  were  with  him,  were  obliged  to  raise  a  stone  seat 
for  him  to  sit  upon,  and  to  stay  his  hands,  one  on  one  side 
and  the  other  on  the  other,  until  sunset,  when  the  victory  of 
Israel  was  secured.  The  incident  is  a  striking  exemplifica- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  need  of  the  co-operation  of  human 
exertion  with  Divine  aid  to  effect  great  results.  God  does 
not  usually  work  for  man  unless  man  works  for  himself,  and 
man's  utmost  exertions  are  vain  and  useless  unless  God 
makes  them  effectual  by  His  mighty  power.  In  spiritual 
matters  this  is  well  expressed  by  St.  Paul  (Phil.  ii.  12), 
"  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  for 
it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
good  pleasure."  The  holding  up  of  Moses'  hands  typifies  the 
prayer  of  faith,  which  draws  down  God's  blessing  upon  His 
people's  efTorts. 

Joshua  was  one  of  the  spies  sent  by  Moses  to  search  the 
land  of  Canaan,  as  we  read  in  Num.  xiii.  His  name  was 
then  Oshea  (ver.  8),  but  was  changed  on  that  occasion  to 
Jehoshua  (of  which  the  Greek  form  is  Jesus,  Acts  vii.  45  ; 
Heb.  iv.  3)  (ver.  16).  He  and  Caleb  the  son  of  Jephunneh 
were  the  only  two  faithful  spies,  and  the  only  two  who 
eventually  entered  into  the  land  of  Canaan  (Num.  xiv.  6  ff., 
24,  38). 

The  next  incident  in  this  section  is  a  very  interesting  and 
natural  one,  bearing  its  truth  strongly  marked  in  every 
feature  of  it.  We  saw  in  chap.  iv.  that  when  Moses  left 
Midian  to  return  to  Egypt  he  took  with  him  his  wife 
Zipporahj  and  his  two  sons  Gershom  and  Eliezer.     On  the 


EXODUS  109 

way  occurred  the  strange  incident  relative  to  the  circum- 
cision of  their  youngest  child,  recorded  in  chap.  iv.  24-26, 
It  seems  probable  that  on  that  occasion  Moses  sent  her 
back  to  her  family  in  Midian  ;  either  because  she  showed 
herself  intractable  and  likely  to  hinder  him  in  his  great 
work,  or  because  the  child  was  not  fit  to  travel,  or  for  some 
other  unknown  cause.  The  phrase,  "  after  her  dismissal," 
which  is  the  literal  rendering  of  ver.  2,  rather  suggests  that 
it  had  been  a  parting  in  displeasure.  And  the  scene  on  the 
meeting  of  Moses  and  Jethro,  and  the  subsequent  feast,  has 
somewhat  the  air  of  a  family  and  national  reconciliation. 
The  Midianites  dwelt  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Mount  Horeb,  and  so  were  close  at  hand. 

It  has  been  doubted  by  some,  especially  by  Jewish  com- 
mentators, whether  this  visit  of  Jethro  to  Moses  took  place 
before  the  giving  of  the  law,  as  its  place  here  seems  to  in- 
dicate, or  after  it,  as  the  mention  at  ver.  16  of  the  "statutes 
and  laws  "  of  God  suggests.  But  there  is  no  sufficient  reason 
for  supposing  this  chapter  out  of  its  place  on  account  of  the 
mention  of  the  statutes  and  laws  of  God,  because  the  identical 
phrase  is  used  of  Abraham  in  Gen.  xxvi.  5,  that  he  kept  God's 
commandments  and  statutes  and  laws.  The  unwritten  laws 
of  righteousness,  truth,  and  justice  engraven  in  the  minds  and 
consciences  of  God's  faithful  servants  are  doubtless  meant. 

The  establishment  of  judges  to  judge  all  ordinary  cases, 
with  a  right  of  appeal  to  Moses,  by  the  advice  of  Jethro,  is 
a  very  interesting  fact  in  this  most  truthful  history.  Jethro, 
as  ruler  of  Midian,  doubtless  spoke  from  his  own  experience. 
Jethro's  acknowledgment  of  Jehovah  as  "above  all  gods," 
and  his  offering  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices  to  Him,  is 
another  most  interesting  event  in  the  religious  history  of 
mankind. 

Chaps,  xix.-xxiii.— The  Giving  of  the  Law. 

We  now  approach  that  great  event  in  the  history,  not  of 
Israel  only,  but  of  the  whole  world  besides — the  giving  of 
the  law  of  the  ten  commandments  from  Mount  Sinai.     For 


no  THE  PENTATEUCH 

is  it  not  a  wonderful  and  most  impressive  fact  that  that  com- 
pendium of  man's  duty  to  God  and  man  which  was  given 
more  than  3000  years  ago  in  the  remote  region  of  the 
Sinaitic  range,  is  at  this  very  day  the  rule  of  life  for  all 
Christian  people  under  heaven.  Sunday  after  Sunday  we 
in  England,  when  we  assemble  and  meet  together  for  the 
worship  of  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
listen  reverently  on  our  knees  to  each  of  these  ten  command- 
ments, and  as  we  hear  them,  one  by  one,  we  pray  "  Incline  our 
hearts  to  keep  this  law."  And  when  we  have  heard  them 
all,  we  add  the  earnest  supplication,  "  Write  all  these  Thy 
laws  in  our  hearts,  we  beseech  Thee."  And  how  thorough 
and  comprehensive  these  commandments  are  we  learn  as 
well  from  other  passages  in  the  New  Testament,  as  especially 
from  that  beautiful  one  in  Rom.  xiii.  8-10,  "He  that  loveth 
his  neighbour  (R.  V.)  hath  fulfilled  the  law."  "  For  this,  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery,  thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt  not 
steal,  thou  shalt  not  covet,  and  if  there  be  any  other  command- 
ment, it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying,  namely,  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to 
his  neighbour,  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law."  And 
to  the  like  effect  is  the  exposition  of  the  ten  commandments 
in  the  Church  Catechism.  These  commandments,  then, 
concern  every  individual  of  the  human  race,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  first  enumeration  are  invested  with  a 
corresponding  interest  and  importance. 

And  truly  those  circumstances  were  of  marvellous  grandeur 
and  solemnity.  Conceive  the  desert  of  Sinai,  peopled  for 
the  time  with  the  multitude  of  the  redeemed  from  Egyptian 
bondage  waiting  in  awful  expectation  of  what  was  about  to 
happen.  Before  them  rises  the  mountain  peak  of  Ras- 
Susafeh,  in  its  rugged  majesty,  as  a  step,  yet  an  impossible 
one,  between  earth  and  heaven.  Then  a  three  days'  solemn 
preparation  is  imposed  upon  the  whole  multitude.  "  Sanctify 
the  people  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and  let  them  wash  their 
clothes."  They  must  put  away  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  spirit,  that  they  may  be  ready  to  meet  their  God.  But 
even  so  they  cannot  see  God  and  live.    They  may  not  so 


EXODUS  II  r 

much  as  touch  the  mountain  where  the  presence  of  God  is 
localised.  Barriers  are  set  up  to  keep  them  off,  and  even 
their  cattle  might  not  touch  the  mountain  (Heb.  xii.  20). 
The  awful  holiness  of  God  is  the  great  lesson  to  be  taught, 
followed  up  as  it  was  by  all  the  ordinances  of  sacrifice  and 
priesthood,  and  the  Holy  of  Holies,  until  the  one  great 
atoning  sacrifice  of  the  eternal  Son  of  God  forever  put 
•^way  sin,  and  perfect  reconciliation  between  God  and  man 
was  effected  by  the  mediation  and  intercession  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  Saviour. 

But  to  return  to  the  narrative.  The  third  day  was 
ushered  in  by  sights  and  sounds  of  unspeakable  awe  and 
terror.  Vivid  flashes  of  lightning  played  around  the  summit 
of  the  mountain.  The  thunder  roared,  crash  after  crash. 
A  mysterious  cloud  stood  upon  the  mount,  and  then  came 
terrific  sounds  as  of  a  trumpet,  waxing  louder  and  louder, 
till  even  Moses  cried  out  in  fear(Exod.  xix.  19;  Heb.  xii.  12). 
Meanwhile  the  whole  mountain  seemed  to  be  on  fire,  it 
rocked  and  quaked,  and  the  smoke  of  it  went  up  like  the 
smoke  of  a  furnace  (comp.  Gen.  xix.  22).  God  had  de- 
scended upon  the  top  of  the  mount ;  then  it  was  that  "  the 
earth  shook,  the  heavens  also  dropped  at  the  presence  of 
God  :  Sinai  itself  was  moved  at  the  presence  of  God,  the 
God  of  Israel"  (Ps.  Ixviii.  8).  And  then  to  that  hushed  and 
awed  multitude  came  forth  the  voice  from  the  thick  cloud, 
which  proclaimed  to  Israel  and  to  the  world  the  law  of  the 
ten  commandments,  and  then  ceased.  But  the  prostration 
of  spirit  of  the  people  was  more  than  they  could  longer  bear. 
They  turned  to  Moses,  who  had  come  down  to  them  from 
the  mount  (Exod.  xix.  25),  and  said,  "  Speak  thou  to  us,  and 
we  will  hear,  but  let  not  God  speak  with  us  lest  we  die."  So 
the  people  removed  and  stood  far  off,  and  Moses  drew  near 
to  the  thick  darkness  where  God  was. 

Here  then  closed  the  first  and  most  solemn  part  of  this 
momentous  drama,  of  which  a  somewhat  fuller  account 
is  given  in  Deut.  v.,  which  should  be  compared  with  this. 
But  before  proceeding  further,  two  points  call  for  attention. 
In  the  narrative  we  have  just  been  considering,  no  person^ 


112  THE  PENTATEUCH 

ality,  no  agency,  has  been  mentioned  but  that  of  God  Him- 
self, in  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  all  the  accompaniments  of 
it.  But  in  Ps.  Ixviii.  17  we  read,  "The  chariots  of  God  are 
twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels.  The  Lord  is 
among  them  as  in  the  holy  place  of  Sinai."  And  so  in  Acts 
vii.  53,  St.  Stephen  tells  the  Jews  that  they  had  "  received 
the  law  by  the  disposition  of  angels,"  and  that  it  was  "  an 
angel  who  spake  to  Moses  in  the  mount  Sinai "  (v.  38).  St. 
Paul,  too,  tells  the  Galatians  (iii.  19)  that  the  law  was 
"  ordained  by  angels  in  the  hands  of  a  mediator."  And  so 
again,  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (ii.  2) 
speaks  of  the  law  as  "  the  word  spoken  by  angels."  We  are 
led,  therefore,  to  consider  that  though  in  the  narrative  before 
us  God  only  is  mentioned  as  the  true  agent,  yet  here,  as 
elsewhere.  He  spoke  and  acted  through  the  medium  of  His 
holy  angels,  those  "ministers  of  His  that  do  His  pleasure" 
(Ps.  ciii.  21),  And  so  we  have  this  additional  feature  of 
sublimity  in  the  scene  at  Sinai,  that  when  God  would 
deliver  His  holy  law  to  mankind.  He  summoned  the  host 
of  heaven  to  assist  in  the  great  ceremony,  just  as  centuries 
later  the  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  sang  "  Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest,"  at  the  birth  of  Jesus,  who  came  to 
fulfil  the  law  for  man,  and  to  reconcile  heaven  and  earth  in 
one  perfect  obedience  to  the  law  of  righteousness  and  love. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  general  rule  in  Scripture  is  that 
when  a  message  from  God  is  given  through  man,  it  is  pre- 
faced by  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  ; "  but  when  it  is  given  through 
an  angel,  it  is  simply,  "God  said"  so  and  so. 

The  remaining  chapters  of  this  section  contain  the  statutes 
and  ordinances  given  from  Sinai,  not,  like  the  ten  command 
ments,  to  the  whole  people,  but  as  an  instruction  to  Moses 
what  laws  he  was  to  set  before  them.  These  laws,  for  the 
most  part,  would  come  into  operation  at  once,  and  would  be 
needful  to  guide  the  judges,  appointed  in  chap,  xviii.  24-26,  in 
their  judgments.  A  very  few,  such  as  those  relating  to  the 
cities  of  refuge,  xxi.  13 ;  to  fields  and  vineyards,  and  the 
offering  of  first-fruits,  and  the  three  feasts,  and  the  Sabbatical 
year  (xxii.  5,  29;  xxiii.  iij  14,  16,  19),  would  not  come  into 


EXODUS  113 

operation  till  they  were  in  possession  of  Canaan,  an  event 
to  which  chap,  xxiii.  20-33  distinctly  looks  forward.  These 
laws  bear  strongly  marked  traces  of  the  very  imperfect 
state  of  the  society  for  which  they  were  made,  in  the  existence 
of  slavery,  in  the  rough  usage  of  slaves,  in  the  bribing  ot 
judges,  and  so  on.  They  aimed  at  mitigating  the  evils  and 
hardships  of  such  a  state,  and  introducing  equity  and  fairness 
into  those  relations  of  man  with  man  which  could  not  be 
abolished  at  once,  but  which  in  due  time  Christianity  would 
set  straight.  Chap.  xxi.  24,  25  is  referred  to  in  Matt.  v.  38  ;  xxi. 
17  in  Matt.  xv.  4  ;  and  xxii.  i  in  Luke  xix.  8  :  xxii.  28  is  referred 
to  by  St.  Paul,  Acts  xxiii.  5.  The  principle  of  distinction  be- 
tween murder  and  homicide  or  manslaughter ;  of  compen- 
sation for  bodily  hurt ;  of  the  liability  for  accidents,  caused  by 
a  man's  carelessness  (xxi.  29,  33)  ;  of  the  distinction  between 
killing  a  burglar  by  night  or  by  dayhght  (xxii.  2,  3),  besides 
the  general  principles  of  equity  which  pervade  the  whole  code, 
are  recognised  in  our  own  laws  at  the  present  time. 


Chaps,  xxiv.-xxxl— In  the  Mount. 

The  principal  subject  of  the  ensuing  section  is  the  con- 
struction of  the  Tabernacle,  and  the  various  furniture  thereof ; 
the  institution  of  the  Aaronic  Priesthood  for  the  service  of 
the  Tabernacle,  and  their  typical  garments,  and  the  sacrifices 
which  they  were  to  offer,  followed  by  the  appointment  of 
Bezaleel  and  Aholiab  to  execute  the  works,  and  by  a  solemn 
injunction  to  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  throughout  their  gene- 
rations. The  section  closes  with  the  gift  to  Moses,  as  had 
been  promised  (xxiv.  12),  of  the  two  tables  of  stone  "written 
with  the  finger  of  God." 

But  before  entering  upon  the  description  of  the  Tabernacle, 
Moses  has  a  wonderful  story  to  tell  of  what  passed  on  the 
holy  mount.  When  the  communication  to  Moses  of  the- 
judgments  contained  in  chapters  xxi.-xxiii.  was  completed, 
he  was  sent  down  from  the  mount  to  the  camp,  and  there 
told  the  people  all  the  words  of  the  Lord,  which  had  been 

s.  T.  H 


114  I^HE  PENTATEUCH 

spoken  to  him  ;  and  he  wrote  them,  probably  on  tablets  of 
stone,  as  was  the  custom  in  Egypt.  Early  next  morning, 
after  a  solemn  sacifice  of  burnt-offerings  and  peace-offerings, 
on  an  altar  which  he  had  built  under  the  hill,  Moses  took 
of  the  blood  of  the  victims,  and  sprinkled  it  on  the  altar. 
He  then  read  aloud  "  the  book  of  the  covenant,"  z.e.,  "  all 
the  words  of  the  Lord,"  which  had  been  spoken  to  him  out 
of  "  the  thick  darkness,  where  God  was  "  (xx.  21),  and  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  he  had  written  down  the  night  before 
(xxiv.  4) ;  and  when  the  people,  upon  hearing  it,  had  said, 
"  all  that  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do  and  be  obedient " 
(xxiv.  7) — thus  accepting  their  part  of  the  covenant — he 
sprinkled  the  blood  upon  the  people,  saying,  "  Behold  the 
blood  of  the  covenant  which  the  Lord  hath  made  with  you  " 
(ver.  8).  Thus  solemnly  was  the  covenant  between  God  and 
Israel  dedicated  and  ratified  by  blood — typical  of  the  new 
covenant  in  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  the  Lord 
Himself,  at  the  institution  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  when  He  gave  them  the  cup,  said,  "  This  cup  is  the 
new  covenant  in  My  blood,  which  is  poured  out  for  you " 
(Luke  xxii.  20,  R.V.). 

From  the  above  transaction  it  appears  that  the  name 
of  "  the  Book  of  the  Covenant "  is  very  properly  given  to  that 
part  of  the  Mosaic  law  which  is  contained  in  Exod.  xx.- 
xxiii.  ;  comp.  Deut.  v.  2-ix.  1 1  ;  and  see  the  striking  com- 
ment on  the  two  covenants  or  testaments  in  Heb.  ix.,  where 
the  account  in  Exod.  xxiv.  is  quoted  with  some  alterations 
and  additions. 

What  follows  is  still  more  wonderful.  The  covenant  was 
to  be  celebrated,  as  was  usual,  at  a  sacrificial  feast,  at  which 
the  concord  of  the  covenanting  parties  was  exhibited  and 
cemented.  Accordingly,  at  the  bidding  of  God  (xxiv.  i), 
Moses  called  Aaron,  and  his  two  sons  Nadab  and  Abihu, 
with  seventy  of  the  elders  of  Israel  (comp.  Num.  xi.  16),  to 
*'  go  up  unto  the  Lord,"  not  near — that  was  permitted  to 
Moses  only  (v.  2),  but  so  as  to  "worship  afar  off."  Accord- 
ingly they  went  up,  probably  to  some  spot  indicated  on 
the   hill  side,  whence  they  saw  the  gloiy  surrounding  the 


EXODUS  115 

throne  of  the  God  of  Israel,  and  where  they  ate  and  drank 
at  the  sacrificial  feast  in  the  very  presence  of  their  covenant 
God  (ver.  11).  When  the  feast  was  over  they  seem  all  to 
have  returned  to  the  plain  below  (vers.  12-14).  But  Moses 
was  called  up  again  into  the  mount,  where  he  remained 
forty  days  and  forty  nights.  Aaron  and  Hur  were  to  act 
for  him  during  his  absence  (ver.  14). 

With  regard  to  the  expression  in  vers.  10  and  11,  "They 
saw  the  God  of  Israel,"  it  seems  impossible  to  understand  it 
in  the  most  literal  sense  for  the  following  reasons,  (i.)  God 
is  declared  in  Scripture  to  be  "invisible"  (Col.  i.  15  ;  i  Tim. 
i.  17;  Heb.  xi.  27).  (2.)  It  is  said  of  God  that  "no  man 
hath  seen  Him,  or  can  see  Him"  (i  Tim.  vi.  16),  and  "no 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  "(John.  i.  18  ;  i  John  iv.  12). 
(3.)  In  Moses'  own  account  of  the  giving  of  the  "covenant," 
he  lays  great  stress  upon  the  fact  that  though  they  heard 
a  voice  they  saw  "no  similitude,"  "no  manner  of  similitude" 
(Deut.  iv.  12,  16),  and  grounds  upon  it  the  command  not  to 
make  the  similitude  of  any  figure  whatsoever  for  the  purpose 
of  worship.  (4.)  When  Moses  asked  for  a  special  token  of 
divine  favour,  he  said,  "  Show  me  Thy  glory."  And  the 
answer  was,  "  I  will  proclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before 
thee,"  but  "thou  canst  not  see  My  face"  (Exod.  xxxiii.  i8- 
23)-  (5-)  The  Septuagint  version  of  Exod.  xxiv.  10  trans- 
lates the  Hebrew  "they  saw  the  God  of  Israel"  by  "they 
saw  the  place  where  the  God  of  Israel  stood."  And  they 
translate  ver.  11  quite  dififerently  from  the  Hebrew  text. 

The  following  chapters  xxv.-xxxi.  are  entirely  taken  up 
with  the  instructions  given  to  Moses  during  the  first  forty 
days  that  he  was  up  in  the  mount,  in  the  midst  of  the 
cloud.  These  instructions  relate  to  the  Tabernacle  which 
was  to  be  built,  and  all  its  furniture  ;  the  altar  of  burnt- 
offerings,  and  the  various  vessels  connected  with  it  ;  the 
altar  of  incense  (chap,  xxx.),  and  the  anointing  oil,  and  the 
sweet  incense  ;  the  separation  of  Aaron  and  his  sons  for  the 
priest's  office ;  the  priestly  garments  for  them,  and  the 
sacrificial  rites  to  be  observed  at  their  consecration  ;  and 
finally,  the  appointment  of  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab  to  execute 


ii6  THE  PENTATEUCH 

all  these  works,  with  the  promise  of  special  skill  and  wisdom 
to  be  given  to  them  by  God  for  the  purpose.  The  works 
are  summed  up  in  chap.  xxxi.  7-1 1. 

The  Tabernacle,  or  tent  of  meeting,  occupied  a  very  large 
and  important  place  in  the  Mosaic  economy,  as  might  be 
concluded  from  the  space  given  to  the  description  of  it  in  the 
foregoing  chapters,  and  of  the  actual  execution  of  the  works 
in  chaps,  xxxv.-xl.  It  was  in  truth  a  most  remarkable 
institution,  and  one  of  very  large  and  comprehensive  sig- 
nificance. To  view  it  under  its  different  aspects,  (i.)  It 
was  the  nucleus  of  the  whole  worship  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel,  as  that  worship  was  to  be  carried  on  from  the  time 
of  Moses  till  the  ascension  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  the 
Temple  was  built  on  the  exact  model  of  the  Tabernacle.  At 
that  Tabernacle,  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  whole  congre- 
gation, the  anointed  priests  of  God  daily  officiated  in  His 
holy  service.  There  the  atoning  sacrifices  were  offered 
continually  ;  there  the  sweet  incense  ascended  up  continu- 
ally for  a  memorial  before  Him.  There  was  the  mercy-seat 
— there  was  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  the  law,  contain- 
ing God's  holy  will  and  commandments.  There  was  the 
constant  emblem  of  God's  presence  in  the  midst  of  His 
people,  directing  and  guiding,  watching  over  and  caring  for 
them,  but  also  noting  and  punishing  their  sins.  The  Unity, 
the  Holiness,  the  Providence  of  God,  were  ever  set  before 
the  minds  of  Israel  as  they  saw  the  Tabernacle,  and  the 
pillar  of  cloud,  and  Moses  coming  in  and  out  from  com- 
muning with  God. 

(2.)  But  view  it  also  in  its  manifold  typical  aspects.  When 
we  remember  how  both  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  (2  Cor.  v.  i, 
4  ;  2  Pet.  i.  13,  14)  speak  of  our  human  body  as  our  taber- 
nacle, and  how  we  are  told  that  "  the  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  tabernacled  (  Io-ktJ vwcrev)  among  us,  and  we  beheld  His 
glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father " 
(John  i.  14),  we  see  how  the  Tabernacle,  the  abode  of  God's 
presence,  frequently  illuminated  by  His  glory  (Exod.  xl. 
34,  35,  &c.),  was  a  type  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  His  dwelling  in  the  flesh  in  the  midst  of  His  people. 


EXODUS  117 

And  when  we  read  (Rev.  xxi.  3-5),  "Behold,  the  tabernacle 
of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they 
shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself  shall  be  with  them, 
and  be  their  God,"  we  see  no  less  clearly  how  the  Tabernacle 
in  the  wilderness  was  an  image  of  that  glorious  and  blessed 
time  when  sin  and  sorrow  shall  for  ever  have  passed  away, 
and  the  redeemed  shall  bask  in  the  sunshine  of  the  unveiled 
presence  of  God  in  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
for  ever  and  ever.  But  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews  (Heb.  ix.) 
shows  us  other  important  lessons  to  be  drawn  from  the 
construction  of  the  Tabernacle.  In  that  Tabernacle  there 
were  two  parts.  In  the  first  the  priests  daily  went  in  to 
accomplish  the  service  of  God.  But  into  the  second,  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  the  high  priest  alone  went  once  a  year 
with  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice,  thus  showing  that  as  long  as 
the  outer  Tabernacle  was  still  standing,  access  to  the  very 
presence  of  God  in  His  inner  sanctuary  was  not  open  to 
sinful  man.  The  sacrifices  there  offered,  though  they  con- 
tinually testified  to  human  guilt,  and  the  need  of  atonement, 
could  not  take  that  guilt  away.  But  when  He  came  into 
the  world  as  the  true  High  Priest  (of  whom  Aaron  and  his 
successors  were  only  types),  and  shed  that  precious  Blood 
which  does  take  away  sin  and  justify  guilty  man,  and  with 
it  entered  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  above  to  make  eternal 
intercession  for  us,  then  a  perfect  and  free  access  to  God 
was  opened  for  man  ;  and  that  which  was  dimly  fore- 
shadowed by  the  Tabernacle  made  with  hands  reared  in 
the  wilderness,  was  gloriously  fulfilled  in  the  Tabernacle 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens  (see  Matt, 
xxvii.  51). 

(3.)  We  may  just  notice  one  other  feature  in  the  history 
of  the  Tabernacle,  though  it  is  not  brought  out  fully  till 
chap.  XXXV.,  viz.,  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  whole  con- 
gregation, in  supplying  all  the  various  materials  for  the 
construction  of  the  Tabernacle  and  its  furniture,  and  its 
serv'ice.  The  willing  hearty  spirit  in  which  both  men  and 
women,  princes  and  people,  each  contributed  whatever  they 
had  to  the  work — bracelets,  earrings,   gold,  silver,  brass, 


ii8  THE  PENTATEUCH 

purple,  scarlet,  rams'  skins,  badger  skins,  onyx  stones,  spices, 
and  what  not — is  a  beautiful  example  of  those  sacrifices 
of  doing  good,  and  communicating  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  Church  with  which  God  is  well  pleased  (Heb.  xiii.  i6). 
It  is  likely  that  shame  and  sorrow  for  their  recent  sin  in 
the  matter  of  the  golden  calf  may  have  stimulated  their 
zeal  on  this  occasion  ;  but,  anyhow,  it  is  a  bright  pattern  for 
Christians  to  follow  of  contributing  freely  of  their  substance 
for  the  common  wants  of  the  Church. 

The  precious  things  contributed  were  doubtless  in  a  great 
measure  those  gifts  which  were  lavished  upon  them  by  the 
Egyptians  to  hasten  their  departure  out  of  Egypt  (xii.  35, 
36).  Other  articles,  such  as  the  seal,  or  badger  skins 
(whichever  the  Hebrew  word  means),  and  the  rams'  skins, 
and  the  acacia  wood,  and  the  goat's  hair,  and  possibly  the 
spices  (Gen.  xxvii.  25,  28),  may  have  been  acquired  in  the 
wilderness. 


Chaps,  xxxii.-xxxiv.— The  Golden  Calf. 

The  episode  which  follows  is  most  curious  and  instructive, 
and  like  other  parts  of  the  Mosaic  narrative,  has  visibly 
stamped  upon  it  truth,  and  the  report  of  an  eye-witness. 
When  Moses  was  called  up  into  the  mount,  attended  by 
Joshua,  and  left  Aaron  and  the  elders  in  the  plain  below, 
bidding  them  tarry  there  till  he  came  again,  the  people 
probably  expected  that  he  would  return  in  two  or  three 
days  at  longest.  But  when  week  followed  week,  and  still 
Moses  did  not  appear,  their  patience  failed  them,  they 
thought  that  he  had  perhaps  perished  in  the  flames  of 
Sinai,  or  had  left  them  to  themselves,  in  despair  at  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation.  As  usual  they  forgot  all  God's 
past  mercies,  and  had  no  faith  in  His  promises  ;  they  were 
probably  weary  of  the  wilderness,  and  longed  to  get  away 
to  the  land  of  their  inheritance,  and  so  they  called  to  Aaron, 
who  in  Moses'  absence  was  their  leader,  to  come  to  their 
rescue.     They  wanted  to  be  off.     But  they  had  been  used 


EXODUS  119 

to  the  guidance  of  the  pillar  of  cloud,  and  did  not  like  to 
move  without  some  supernatural  guidance.  Their  remem- 
brance of  Egyptian  idolatry,  to  which  they  had  been  so 
long  accustomed,  suggested  the  idea  of  a  golden  calf.  And 
so  Aaron,  either  in  weakness  and  fear  of  the  people's 
violence,  as  he  pleaded  to  Moses  (xxxii.  22),  or  from  a 
spirit  of  opposition  and  jealousy  of  his  younger  brother's 
superiority,  of  which  he  gave  evidence  on  at  least  one 
other  occasion  (see  Num.  xii.  i-ii),  complied  with  their 
request.  He  collected  all  the  golden  earrings  of  the  men 
and  women  in  the  camp,  melted  them  in  the  fire,  and 
made  a  molten  calf.  He  then  built  an  altar  before  it, 
and  proclaimed  "a  feast  to  the  Lord"  for  the  morrow. 
Accordingly,  on  the  morrow  they  rose  up  early,  and  offered 
sacrifices  to  the  idol,  and  worshipped  it,  saying,  "  These  be 
thy  gods,  O  Israel,  which  have  brought  thee  up  from  the 
land  of  Egypt"  (xxxii.  8).  They  then  held  a  great  feast, 
followed  by  dancing  and  singing.  It  was  on  his  way  down 
from  the  mount,  accompanied  by  Joshua,  with  the  two 
"  tables  of  testimony "  in  his  hand,  written  on  both  sides, 
that  Moses  heard  the  strange  sounds  issuing  from  the 
camp  below  (vers.  15-18).  On  coming  in  sight  of  the 
camp  the  lamentable  scene  displayed  itself:  the  golden 
calf  in  a  conspicuous  place,  and  the  people  stripped  of  their 
usual  apparel,"^  dancing  and  shouting  around  it.  Moses 
dashed  the  tables  of  stone  upon  the  ground,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  destroy  the  golden  calf  Having  torn  off  the 
golden  casing  from  the  wooden  core  t  upon  which  it  was 
laid,  he  caused  it  to  be  burnt ;  the  gold  he  broke  up  and 
ground  it  to  powder,  and  sprinkled  it  in  the  stream  that 
flowed  from  Sinai  (Deut.  ix.  21),  and  made  the  children  of 
Israel  drink  of  it  (comp.  2  Kings  xviii.  4),  thus  throwing  the 
utmost  possible  contempt  upon   the  idol  which  they  had 

*  The  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  is  somewhat  doubtful,  but  this  seems 
to  be  the  most  simple  explanation.     Comp.  2  Sam.  vi.  14-16,  20. 

t  Great  difficulty  has  been  felt  by  commentators  as  to  the  burning  of 
the  golden  calf.  But  surely  it  was  not  solid  gold,  but  must  have  been 
a  wooden  body  overlaid  with  gold. 


I20  THE  PENTATEUCH 

been  worshipping  (comp.  Isa.  xliv.  10-17).  It  seems  that 
^:here  was  some  show  of  resistance  among  the  most  stubborn 
of  the  people,  probably  those  who  were  ringleaders  in  this 
shameful  idolatry,  and  that  this  resistance  was  shown  in 
their  refusal  to  resume  their  usual  attire,  and  determined 
continuance  in  that  state  of  "  nakedness "  in  which  the 
idolatrous  rites  were  being  celebrated.  With  equal  zeal 
and  courage,  Moses  went  to  the  gate  of  the  camp  where 
these  infuriated  revellers  were,  and  called  to  his  aid  all 
who  were  on  the  Lord's  side.  The  tribe  of  Levi  sprang 
forward,  and  at  Moses'  bidding  attacked  and  slew  the 
rebellious  idolaters  without  respect  to  friend  or  kin.  Three 
thousand  fell  before  them.  It  was  a  lamentable  event,  but 
it  was  an  act  of  severe  justice  which  saved  many  more  than 
it  destroyed.  The  idolatry  was  checked,  the  people  were 
saved. 

On  the  morrow  the  beauty  of  Moses'  character  and  his 
true  love  for  the  people  showed  itself  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  Having  assembled  the  people  and  laid  before 
them  the  enormity  of  their  sin,  he  told  them  that  he  would 
"go  up"  to  the  Lord,  and  endeavour  to  obtain  the  forgive- 
ness of  it.  He  did  so,  and  so  earnestly  did  he  plead  that 
he  asked,  if  forgiveness  could  not  be  granted  to  the  people, 
that  his  own  name  should  be  blotted  out  of  God's  book 
(comp.  Rom.  ix.  3).  He  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  being 
happy  himself  while  the  people,  for  whom  he  had  done  and 
suffered  so  much,  were  rejected  and  excluded  from  God's 
love.  His  intercession  was  so  far  successful,  that  he  received 
permission  to  lead  the  people  on  to  the  land  of  Canaan  ; 
but  with  this  reservation,  God  would  not  go  before  them 
as  He  had  in  times  past,  lest  their  stiff-neckedness  should 
provoke  His  anger  to  consume  them.  But  He  would  send 
an  angel  to  go  before  them. 

Moses  brought  back  these  evil  tidings  to  the  people. 
Fickle  and  changeable  like  children,  they  now  fell  to  weep- 
ing and  lamentation,  and  stripped  off  all  their  ornaments  as 
in  a  time  of  deep  mourning.  As  a  further  token  of  God's 
displeasure,  Moses  removed  the  tent  to  which  he  gave  the 


EXODUS  121 

name  of  "  the  tent  of  meeting,"  *  from  the  camp  and  pitched 
it  far  off  outside  the  camp.  Here  from  time  to  time  God 
communed  with  Moses  "  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaks  to 
his  friend."  When  the  people  saw  Moses  going  out  to  the 
tent  from  the  camp  they  stood  up  respectfully  at  their  tent 
doors  as  he  went  by,  and  watched  him  till  he  entered  the 
"  tent  of  meeting ; "  and  when  they  saw  the  pillar  of  cloud 
standing  over  the  tent  door  denoting  the  presence  of  God 
they  fell  down  and  worshipped. 

How  long  this  state  of  things  lasted  we  are  not  told. 
But  w^e  see  plainly  that  it  wrought  the  effect  intended.  The 
people  seem  to  have  been  thoroughly  subdued  and  weaned 
from  their  idolatry  for  the  time,  and  their  allegiance  to 
Moses  to  have  been  re-established  more  finnly  than  ever. 
Moses  himself  was  encouraged  to  renew  his  intercession  for 
the  people  more  earnestly  than  before,  and  obtained  the 
gracious  assurance  that  God  would,  in  answer  to  his  prayer, 
go  up  before  the  people,  and  bring  them  to  their  inheritance. 
"  My  presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give  thee  rest " 
(xxxiii.  14).  The  inference  which  Moses  drew  from  this  is 
very  remarkable.  "  So  shall  we  be  separated,  I  and  Thy 
people,  from  all  the  people  that  are  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth  "  (comp.  Num.  xxiii.  9).  The  further  result  was  the 
calling  of  Moses  up  to  the  mount  the  second  time  for  a 
period  of  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  to  receive  a  renewal 
of  the  broken  covenants  :  a  renewal  which  was  preceded 
by  that  most  beautiful  and  seasonable  revelation  of  the 
character  of  God,  when  as  His  glory  passed  by  the  cleft  of 
the  rock  where  Moses  was  hid,  the  voice  proclaimed,  "The 
Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering 

*  Heb.  "  oheL"  This  is  of  course  quite  different  from  the  "  Taber- 
nacle," Heb.  "mishcham,"  which  was  not  yet  reared,  and  was  a  much 
more  cumbrous  structure  than  this  simple  tent  here  spoken  of. 
It  is  not  quite  clear  why  it  is  called  "  t/ie  tent,"  as  it  has  not  been 
mentioned  previously.  Many  think,  following  the  LXX. ,  ttju  aK-qvriv 
avToO,  that  it  was  Moses'  own  tent,  which  became  for  a  time  tlie  tent  of 
meeting  with  God,  perhaps  as  being  the  chief  tent  in  the  camp.  See 
"  Speaker's  Commentary." 


122  THE  PENTATEUCH 

and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for 
thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no 
means  clear  the  guilty"  (xxxiv.  6,  7).  After  the  repetition 
of  a  few  laws  the  section  closes  with  an  account  of  a  singular 
and  significant  incident.  While  God  talked  with  Moses, 
the  skin  of  his  face  shone,  as  St.  Stephen's  did  afterwards 
(Acts  vi.  15),  but  he  knew  it  not.  When,  however,  he  came 
down  from  the  mount  with  the  two  tables  of  stone  in  his 
hands,  and  Aaron  and  the  elders  came  to  meet  him  at  the 
entrance  of  the  camp,  they  perceived  that  the  skin  of  his 
face  shone,  and  they  were  afraid  to  come  near  him.  He 
called  them,  however,  unto  him,  and  then  summoned  an 
assembly  of  the  people  to  deliver  to  them  the  command- 
ments which  he  had  received  on  Sinai.  But  while  he  spoke 
to  them  he  put  a  veil  upon  his  face,  and  thenceforth  only 
took  it  off  when  he  went  into  the  tent  of  meeting  to  com- 
mune with  God. 

St.  Paul  adverts  to  this  incident  as  an  illustration  of  the 
difference  between  the  ministration  of  the  law  and  that  of 
the  Gospel,  of  the  letter  and  of  the  spirit.  The  veil  on 
Moses'  face  was  typical  of  the  mystery  and  obscurity  of  the 
types  and  shadows  of  the  law,  and  of  the  bhndness  which 
is  still  on  the  mind  of  Israel  when  Moses  is  read.  But  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  use  great  plainness  of  speech  ;  and 
Christians,  by  beholding  the  glory  of  Christ  without  a  veil 
(with  open,  i.e.,  unveiled  face),  are  changed  into  the  image 
and  likeness  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  iii.  7-18). 


Chaps,  xxxv.-xl.— The  Tabernacle. 

We  now  come  to  the  closing  chapters  of  this  striking  book. 
We  have  already  commented  upon  the  hearty  liberality  with 
which  the  people,  as  related  in  chap,  xxxv.,  contributed  the 
very  best  of  their  treasures  as  an  offering  to  the  Lord  for  the 
construction  of  the  Tabernacle  (p.  117).  And  we  are  in  a 
position  now,  from  what  we  have  seen  in  the  subsequent 
chapters,  to  judge  still  more  conclusively  how  much  the 


EXODUS  123 

present  subdued  and  docile  spirit  of  the  people,  and  their 
zeal  for  the  service  of  the  Lord,  was  the  fruit  of  the  wise 
mixture  of  severity  and  mercy  with  which  their  grievous  sin 
in  the  matter  of  the  golden  calf  had  been  met.  They  could 
not  now  do  enough  to  prove  their  zeal.  Day  after  day  their 
gifts  came  pouring  in  till  the  workmen  were  obliged  to  say 
to  Moses,  "The  people  bring  much  more  than  enough  for 
the  work  which  the  Lord  commanded  to  make  ;"  and  Moses 
had  to  proclaim  throughout  the  camp,  "  Let  neither  man  nor 
woman  make  any  more  work  for  the  offering  of  the  sanctuary" 
(xxxvi.  3-7).  We  are  strongly  reminded  of  the  overflowing 
liberahty  of  the  first  congregation  of  Christians  who  "  sold 
their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men  as 
every  man  had  need"  (Acts  ii.  45  ;  iv.  34-37). 

The  way  in  which  Bezaleel  the  grandson  of  Hur,  and 
Aholiab  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  were  qualified  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  for  all  the  work  they  had  to  do,  as  goldsmiths,  and 
silversmiths,  and  stone  cutters,  and  engravers,  and  em- 
broiderers, and  weavers,  and  skilled  workmen  in  all  manner 
of  cunning  work,  is  a  striking  lesson  to  teach  us  that  skill 
in  all  those  arts  by  which  nations  are  enriched,  and  society 
is  embellished  and  raised  in  the  scale  of  civilisation,  is  the 
gift  of  God.  And  the  way  in  which  both  the  materials  for 
the  work,  and  the  workmen  capable  of  using  them,  were 
found  in  the  most  unlikely  place,  even  in  the  Sinaitic  desert, 
and  among  a  fugitive  race  just  escaped  from  bondage, 
illustrates  the  great  truth  which  breaks  out  continually  in 
the  history  of  mankind  throughout  the  ages,  that  God  raises 
up  fitting  instruments  for  every  work  which  He  purposes  to 
be  done. 

The  chief  features  to  be  observed  in  the  Tabernacle  and 
its  accompaniments,  are — 

I.  The  ark,  the  most  sacred  of  all  the  furniture  of  the 
Tabernacle,  called  by  the  Psalmist,  "the  ark  of  God's 
strength"  (Ps.  cxxxii.  8),  was  the  symbol  of  God's  presence. 
It  was  a  chest  made  of  acacia  wood,  and  overlaid  with  pure 
gold.  It  was  called  "  the  ark  of  the  covenant,"  because  in 
it  were  placed  the  tables  of  the  law  (Exod.  xxv.  16  ;  Deut. 


124  THE  PENTATEUCH 

xxxi.  26  ;  Heb.  ix.  4).  On  it  rested  the  mercy-seat,  on  which 
stood  the  cherubim,  over-shadowing  it  with  their  out- 
stretched wings  (Heb.  ix.  5),  whence  God  is  spoken  of  as 
"dwelling  between  the  cherubim."  See  Exod.  xxv.  18-22  ; 
Num.  vii.  89  ;  i  Sam.  iv.  4  ;  Ps.  Ixxx.  i  ;  xcix.  i.  It  stood 
within  the  vail,  in  the  Holy  of  Holies. 

2.  The  two  altars,  {a)  The  brazen  altar,  or  altar  of 
burnt-offering,  which  stood  outside  in  the  court  of  the 
Tabernacle,  {b)  The  golden  altar,  or  altar  of  incense,  which 
stood  inside  the  Tabernacle,  in  front  of  the  vail,  separating 
it  from  the  Holy  of  Holies  (Exod.  xl.  5,  26  ;  Luke  i.  9,  11). 

3.  The  table  of  shew-bread,  which  stood  also  in  the 
Tabernacle,  without  the  vail,  northward  ;  and  the  golden 
candlestick  with  its  seven  burners,*  over  against  the  table, 
southwards  (Exod.  xl.  22-24  ;  Rev.  i.  13,  14). 

4.  The  laver  for  the  priests  to  wash  in  before  entering 
the  Tabernacle,  or  offering  sacrifices  on  the  altar.  It  stood 
in  the  court,  between  the  altar  of  burnt-offering  and  the 
entrance  into  the  tent  of  meeting  (Exod.  xl.  30-32  ;  xxx. 
18-21). 

5.  The  priestly  garments,  with  the  breastplate,  and  the 
ephod,  and  the  Urim  and  Thummim  for  the  high  priest 
(Exod.  xxxix.  2-31  ;  xxviii.  30;  Lev.  viii.  8). 

With  regard  to  the  symbolical  teaching  of  the  Tabernacle, 
we  may  add  to  what  was  said  on  chaps,  xxiv.-xxxi.  (p.  116), 
now  that  we  have  seen  the  relative  position  of  the  different 
articles  of  the  Tabernacle  furniture,  what  striking  lessons 
their  position  conveys.  Outside  the  Tabernacle  stood  the 
altar  of  burnt  sacrifice,  teaching  us  that  sinful  man  cannot 
draw  near  to  God  until  he  has  been  purged  from  his  sin  by 
the  blood  of  an  atoning  and  accepting  sacrifice.  Then  the 
laver,  where  the  priest  had  to  wash  before  entering  the 
Tabernacle,  teaches  us  that  those  that  are  cleansed  from 
guilt  by  sacrifice,  must  also  have  their  hearts  purified  by 

*  The  only  representation  of  this  golden  candlestick  is  that  sculp- 
tured on  the  Arch  of  Titus,  at  Rome,  where  it  appears  as  part  of  the 
spoil  taken  by  Titus  from  Jerusalem  (see  an  engraving  in  the  Diet,  of 
the  Bible,  article  Candlesticks). 


EXODUS  125 

God's  Holy  Spirit,  before  they  can  come  into  God's  presence. 
The  golden  altar  of  incense  within  the  Tabernacle  typifies 
the  blessed  employment  of  prayer  and  praise  which  is  the 
privilege  of  God's  saints.  The  table  of  shew-bread,  and 
the  golden  candlestick,  within  the  Tabernacle,  exhibit  the 
spiritual  food,  and  the  spiritual  light,  that  are  found  in  the 
Church  of  God.  The  priestly  garments  and  anointing  oil 
teach  us  with  what  preparation  of  heart,  with  what  sanctity 
and  purity  of  life  and  character,  with  what  reverence  and 
self  consecration,  we  must  worship  God ;  while  the  high 
priest,  entering  once  a  year  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  sets 
before  us  in  lively  colours  the  Blessed  Person  of  our  great 
High  Priest,  entered  for  ever  within  the  vail  with  His  own 
most  precious  Blood,  and  ever  interceding  for  His  Church, 
clothed  in  the  spotless  robe  of  His  own  perfect  righteousness, 
crowned  with  the  glory  of  His  own  supreme  merits,  and  ex- 
alted as  the  Christ  of  God,  above  every  name  that  is  named, 
not  only  in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

The  section  closes  with  the  information  that  all  was  com- 
pleted, and  the  Tabernacle  reared  in  the  first  month  of  the 
second  year,  since  their  departure  from  Egypt  (Num.  i.  i). 
And  when  all  was  finished  the  cloud  covered  the  tent  of 
meeting,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  Tabernacle 
within,  so  that  even  Moses  himself  could  not  enter  into  the 
tent  of  meeting. 

The  last  thing  recorded  in  this  book  is  the  very  interest- 
ing fact,  so  significant  of  that  loving  Providence  which 
orders  all  the  concerns  of  the  children  of  God,  that  the 
future  movements  of  the  Israelites  were  regulated  absolutely 
by  the  cloud  which  abode  upon  the  tent  of  meeting.  As 
long  as  the  cloud  was  not  taken  up  they  journeyed  not,  but 
abode  still  where  they  were.  But  when  the  cloud  was  taken 
up,  then  they  went  onward  according  to  the  order  prescribed 
in  the  Book  of  Numbers,  ii.  iv.  We  learn  from  Num.  x.  1 1  that 
the  Israelites  took  their  first  journey  from  the  wilderness  of 
Sinai  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  second  month  of  the  second 
year  after  they  came  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  i.e.^  one  month 
and  twenty  days  after  the  rearing  of  the  Tabernacle. 


126  THE  PENTATEUCH 

On  reviewing  briefly  the  ground  trodden  in  our  considera- 
tion of  the  first  two  books  of  Holy  Scripture,  two  aspects 
chiefly  strike  us. 

1.  The  wonderful  richness  and  variety  and  interest  and 
beauty,  combined  with  simplicity,  which  pervade  the  whole 
narrative.  Then  as  we  penetrate  the  meaning  of  what  we 
read,  the  most  instructive  lessons  of  religion,  of  morals,  of 
history,  of  practical  life,  open  out  before  us.  The  idea  of 
God  is  presented  to  us  with  great  sublimity,  yet  in  a  manner 
that  brings  home  closely  to  us  the  near  relation  in  which 
we  stand  to  God  in  the  daily  actions  of  life.  The  different 
shades  of  character  of  the  great  actors  in  the  scenes  brought 
before  us  have  a  vivid  distinctness  which  make  us  feel  as  if 
we  had  known  the  several  individuals  of  whom  we  read. 
The  transparent  impartiality  with  which  the  faults  as  well  as 
the  virtues  of  the  Scripture  heroes  are  laid  bare,  inspires  us 
with  wonderful  confidence  in  the  truth  of  the  narrator.  But 
above  all  the  unity  and  continuity  of  the  purpose  of  God, 
advancing  steadily  through  the  ages,  by  the  successive 
agency  of  the  most  diverse  instruments,  and  by  the  operation 
of  the  most  various  natural  causes,  and  looking  forward  to 
what  we  now  know  in  the  light  of  accomplishment,  the 
coming  of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world  to  be  the  Saviour  of 
the  world — this  leaves  upon  every  thoughtful  mind  such  a 
conviction  of  the  Divine  origin  of  the  Book  which  records 
these  things,  as  nothing  can  weaken  or  eflace. 

2.  As  regards  the  authenticity  of  the  Books.  We  notice  a 
great  number  of  incidents  which,  humanly  speaking,  could 
have  occurred  to  nobody  if  they  had  not  actually  happened. 
Persons  are  named,  and  nations  are  spoken  of,  and  arts,  as, 
e.g-.,  that  of  writing,  are  presupposed  to  exist,  and  the  inter- 
course of  nations  remote  from  one  another  is  related,  and 
conditions  of  the  world  are  supposed,  which  a  hundred  years 
ago  seemed  to  be  impossible  or  highly  improbable.  As 
cuneiform  inscriptions  have  been  deciphered,  and  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics  have  unrolled  their  treasures,  these  have  been 
shown  to  be  most  strictly  accurate  and  true.  Again  the 
scene  of.the  largest  portion  of  these  two  Books  has  been  laid 


EXODUS  127 

partly  in  Egypt,  partly  in  the  wilderness  of  the  Sinaitic 
peninsula.  The  knowledge  of  Egyptian  customs,  institutions, 
manners,  politics,  natural  history,  public  works,  government, 
contemporary  history,  as  we  now  know  them  by  the  fresh 
light  of  Egyptian  monuments,  added  to  the  old  testimony  of 
Greek  historians,  which  breaks  out  in  the  whole  narrative,  is 
such  as  could  only  have  been  acquired  by  residence  in  Egypt. 
While  the  portion  of  the  narrative  which  deals  with  the 
wilderness  is  so  true  "in  colour"  to  hfe  in  the  desert,  so 
accurate  in  its  description  of  localities,  so  graphic  in  its  views 
of  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  wilderness  life,  as  these  have 
been  severally  set  forth  by  the  most  accurate  modern  tra- 
vellers, that  we  are  compelled  to  believe  that  the  writer  of 
these  pages  was  an  eye-witness  and  an  actor  in  those  events, 
which  he  describes  with  such  photographic  accuracy  and 
such  persuasive  power.  A  devout  and  candid  mind,  when 
fully  informed  on  the  subject,  cannot  help  rejecting  the  idea 
of  forgery  and  fiction  in  connection  with  these  Books  as 
repugnant  alike  to  human  reason  and  Divine  authority. 
And  with  these  words  we  close  our  remarks  on  Genesis  and 
Exodus. 


LEVITICUS. 


I.  Title,  Contents,  Period. — This  third  portion  of  the 
Book  of  the  Law  or  Peyitateuch^  a  book  composed  in  one 
continuous  narrative  in  five  sections,  was  headed  by  the 
Jews  vay-yikra^  its  first  word,  meaning  a7td  he  called^  but 
indicating  nothing  whatever  of  the  contents,  as  though  the 
Jews  would  not  venture  to  introduce  a  new  word  into  their 
sacred  writings,  even  for  a  title.  For  this  heading  the  Greek 
Septuagint  translators,  not  so  scrupulous,  substituted  one  of 
their  own,  which  should  designate  the  subject  matter,  namely 
AevtTtKov,  luJiat  relates  to  Levi.  The  Latin  Vulgate  trans- 
lators, following  the  Greek  title,  but  taking  a  still  further 
liberty,  made  the  heading  Liber  Leviticus,  by  which  what 
was  a  mere  section  of  one  continuous  text  was  constituted  a 
separate  book.  Proceeding  in  the  same  direction  still  further, 
the  English  version  expands  the  title  to.  The  Fifth  Book  of 
Moses  called  Leviticus.  Some  ancient  versions,  and  one 
of  the  Talmuds,  call  it  The  Law  of  the  Priests^  a  title  which 
describes  the  contents  about  as  well  as  Leviticus^  both  of 
them,  however,  being  really  inadequate.  Besides  ceremonial 
instructions  for  functionaries,  there  are  solemn  precepts 
bearing  on  the  lives  and  principles  of  the  people  at  large, 
with  ample  warnings  that  the  nation  is  intended  to  occupy 
the  promised  land  as  a  God-fearing  one  only.  The  period 
covered  by  the  book  is  a  single  month,  namely  from  the 
erection  of  the  tabernacle  at  Sinai  to  the  numbering  of  the 
people  there,  z.^.,  from  the  first  day  of  the  first  month  to 
the  first  day  of  the  second  month,  in  the  second  year  from 
the  departure  from  Egypt.     In  not  a  few  passages  Canaan 

S.  T.  129  I 


I30  THE  PENTATEUCH 

is  referred  to  as  the  land  which  it  is  the  nation's  object  to 
reach  (xxiii.  lo ;  xxv.  2,  &c.),  and  thrice  by  name  (xiv.  34  ; 
xviii.  3  ;  xxv.  38) ;  while  in  three  Sinai  is  expressly  stated  to 
be  the  locality  where  the  laws  then  reciting  were  given  to 
Moses  by  God  (vii.  38  ;  xxv.  i  ;  xxvii.  34). 


II.  Moses  receives  direct  Communications  from 
God  {Lev.  i.  i,  2). — "And  the  Lord  called  unto  Moses  and 
spake  unto  him  out  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation, 
saying,  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  and  say  unto 
them."  In  these  opening  words,  the  Book  of  Leviticus  pro- 
claims itself  a  record  of  an  express  communication  from  God 
to  Moses  for  the  people  of  Israel.  The  form  of  words,  some- 
times slightly  varied,  is  afterwards  repeated  every  time  a 
fresh  subject  is  introduced,  and  may  be  found  at  the  head  of 
the  following  chapters  :  xi.,xii.,xvii.-xxv., xxvii.;  while  another 
shorter  one,  "  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,"  is 
seen  everywhere.  The  book  concludes  as  it  opens,  its  very 
last  words  being,  "  These  are  the  commandments  which  the 
Lord  commanded  Moses  for  the  children  of  Israel  in  Mount 
Sinai."  Planted  in  the  very  midst,  or  at  the  close,  of  many 
an  instruction,  adding  emphasis  to  it,  is  the  expression,  "  I 
am  the  Lord,"  declaring  who  is  the  ultimate  author  of  the 
entire  body  of  injunctions. 

III.  General  View  of  the  Sacrifices  {Lev.  i.  3-vii.). 
— The  ritual  of  the  Tabernacle  was  all  based  on  the  altar 
services,  with  which,  therefore,  the  book  opens  ;  and  five  offer- 
ings are  specified,  the  Burnt,  the  Meat,  the  Peace,  the  Sin, 
the  Trespass  ;  upon  which  collectively,  before  proceeding  to 
each  in  detail,  we  remark  as  follows — (i.)  In  all  cases  but  one 
the  offering  was  an  animal,  the  exception  being  the  meat- 
offering, which  consisted  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground.  '  'Meat" 
in  Enghsh  did  not  at  one  time  denote  flesh-food  exclusively, 
as  at  present.  (2.)  The  animals  offered  in  sacrifice  were 
bullocks,  sheep,  goats,  all  young  or  full-grown,  doves, 
pigeons  ;   the  gradations  having  reference  to  the  offerer's 


LEVITICUS  131 

means.      In  quadrupeds,  male  animals  were  the  rule,  but 
not  without  exception.     (3.)  The  animal  was  not  slain  upon 
the  altar  itself,  but  on  the  ground  ;  and,  as  a  rule,  at  the 
north  side  of  the  altar.     The  mode  of  slaughter  practised 
by  the  Jews  of  the  present  time  is  considered  by  them  as 
the  one  employed  in  the  ancient  sacrifices.     The  bullock  is 
never  first  stunned,  as  with  us.     That  and  all  other  animals 
are  brought  mechanically  to    the  ground,  or  laid  upon  a 
stage  ;  a  very  sharp  knife  is  expeditiously  drawn,  once  only, 
across  the  throat,  and  death  is  almost  instantaneous  with  the 
least  possible  pain.     The  blood  is  caught  in  a  bowl.     In  the 
sacrificial  rite,  the  victim  was  not  further  dealt  with  until  the 
blood  had  been  entirely  removed.     (4.)  The  victim  was  led 
to  the  altar,  and  there  presented  to  the  priest,  by  the  offerer 
himself,  who  on  delivering  it  laid  his  hand  upon  its  head,  the 
meaning  of  which  action  we  are  not  told.    It  is  nowhere  said 
that  he  made  confession  of  sin  along  with  that  gesture  ;  but 
this  is  often  assumed  from  the  case  of  the  scape-goat,  to  be 
mentioned  in  its  place.     If  we  hesitate  as  to  this,  the  action 
at  any  rate  signified  the  offerer  presenting  the  sacrifice  and 
himself  to  God.     The  offerings  in  which  the  hand  was  thus 
laid  were  the  burnt,  the  peace,  and  the  sin.     (5.)  The  victim 
is  always  represented  as  slain  and  flayed  by  the  offerer  ;  but 
as  ordinary  persons  would  be  quite  incompetent  for  such 
operations,  we  must  assume  that  the  offerer  was  merely  re- 
sponsible for  the  duty,  which  might  be  discharged  for  him 
by  a  professional  person  accustomed  to  it,  all  being  done 
with  skill,   expedition,   and  cleanliness.     In  the  case  of  a 
public  sacrifice,  a  priest  or  Levite  would  be  responsible  for 
the  slaughter,  employing  (as  we  may  presume)  an  expert 
deputy  if  needful.     In  the  case  of  a  private  offering,  the 
priest's  functions  (after  examining  and  passing  the  victim) 
began  in  bringing  it  into  contact  with  the  altar. 

IV.  The  Burnt-Offering  (Olah)  (Z^?'.  i.).— The  special 
design  of  this  sacrifice  is  not  defined  further  than  by  an 
intimation  that  the  offerer  obtained  through  it  "an  atone- 
ment," or  a  reconciliation  (i.  4  ;  xvi.  24).     The  priest's  office 


132  THE  PENTATEUCH 

was  to  sprinkle  the  blood  round  about  upon  the  altar  ;  and 
when  the  offerer  had  flayed  and  divided  up  the  carcass,  to 
place  the  pieces  upon  wood  burning  on  the  altar,  and  thus 
burn  "all  on  the  altar,  to  be  a  burnt- sacrifice  {plah)^  an 
offering  made  by  fire,  of  a  sweet  savour  unto  the  Lord" 
(vers.  5-9).  The  burnt-offering,  much  more  ancient  than  the 
Law  itself,  which  did  not  invent  it,  but  only  regulated  it, 
dated  from  the  most  primitive  period,  and  sacrifices  were 
offered  under  the  same  name  {plah)  not  only  in  the  line  of 
Abraham  but  outside  it.  Noah's  offering  after  the  flood 
(Gen.  viii.  20),  and  Abraham's  on  Mount  Moriah  (Gen.  xxii. 
2-8,  13)  were  of  this  description  ;  as  were  those  of  Job  and 
his  friends  (Job  i.  5  ;  xlii.  8),  those  intended  by  Moses  on 
leaving  Egypt  (Exod.  x.  25),  and  that  offered  by  Jethro 
previous  to  the  Law  (Exod.  xviii.  12).  In  a  multitude  of 
instances  the  burnt-offering  occurs  all  through  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  it  is  from  an  examination  of  these 
alone  that  we  can  determine  the  leading  idea  and  intention  of 
it.  All  the  examples  (some  more  clearly  than  others)  suggest 
that  the  burnt-offering  expressed  generally  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  God,  faith  in  Him,  homage  and  submission  to  Him, 
a  means  of  approaching  and  worshipping  Him.  Consistently 
with  such  a  view  the  burnt-offering  was  prominent  in  all 
state  religious  functions,  and  bore  such  a  representative 
character,  that  it  was  never,  for  even  a  day,  omitted  in  the 
intention  of  the  Law  of  Moses,  after  that  Law  was  pro- 
mulgated. The  morning  lamb  and  the  evening  lamb  (Exod. 
xxix.  42)  were  burnt-offerings,  and  it  would  seem  to  have 
been  principally  in  consequence  of  them,  that  the  altar  of 
"  burnt-offering "  was  so  called  ;  for  the  brazen  altar  re- 
ceived all  offerings,  not  the  burnt-offering  alone.  Nor  is  the 
fact  to  be  lost  sight  of,  that  the  burnt-offering  stands  at  the 
very  head  of  the  list,  which  the  first  chapters  of  Leviticus 
treat  of. 

V.  The  Meat-Offering  (Minchah)  {Lev.  ii. ;  vi.  14- 
23  ;  vii.  9,  10). — The  word  minchah  means  gift,  which  does 
not  much  help  us  to  define  the  purpose  and  intention  of 


LEVITICUS  133 

this  offering,  and  these  must  be  sought  for  in  the  various 
passages  where  it  occurs. 

The  material  was  either  flour,  or  new  corn  parched  and 
bruised,  and  in  either  case  accompanied  with  oil,  frank- 
incense, and  salt.  The  flour  might  be  baked  in  cakes  on  a 
pan,  but  without  leaven.  On  receiving  the  flour  from  the 
offerer,  the  priest  took  a  handful  of  it,  which  as  representing 
the  whole  quantity  was  called  "the  memorial"  of  it,  and 
this  he  burnt  upon  the  altar,  "  to  be  an  offering  made  by  fire, 
of  a  sweet  savour  unto  the  Lord"  (ii.  2).  The  remainder 
belonged  to  the  priests,  to  be  eaten  by  them,  not  at  home, 
but  in  the  court  of  the  Tabernacle  ;  for  having  been,  by 
virtue  of  the  "memorial,"  itself  upon  the  altar,  it  was  "a 
thing  most  holy."  If  cakes  were  brought,  a  piece  of  one  of 
them  was  used  for  the  memorial,  and  all  the  rest  was  dealt 
with  as  the  flour.  The  unground  com  was  brought  not  in 
the  grain,  but  in  the  ear,  which  was  to  be  fresh  (R.V.).  The 
grains  when  separated  were  parched  with  fire  and  bruised 
(R.V.),  the  memorial  and  the  bulk  being  then  dealt  with  as 
before.  As  the  ears  were  to  be  the  first-fruits  of  the  crop, 
this  form  of  the  meat-offering  was  possible  in  no  other  than 
one  brief  portion  of  the  year. 

The  first  mention  of  a  nmichah  offered  to  the  Lord  is 
Cain's  "fruit  of  the  ground,"  which  was  rejected  (Gen.  iv.  3, 
4).  Abel's  offering  from  his  flock  is  also  called  miiichah^  not 
olah.  It  followed  Cain's  and  was  accepted.  An  altar  and 
a  sacrifice  are  reasonably  presumed,  but  they  are  not  named, 
so  that  the  first  7ne)itioned  olah  was  Noah's.  The  second 
known  minchah^  in  Ex.  xxix.  41,  was  after  the  giving  of  the 
Law.  Should  it  occasion  surprise  that  an  offering  repulsed 
when  presented  by  Cain  was  expressly  commanded  in  the 
Mosaic  system,  the  difficulty  will  clear  up,  probably,  as  we 
proceed.  In  the  passage  last  referred  to,  the  meat-offering 
is  of  the  class  of  public  ones,  those  namely  forming  part 
of  the  constant  and  official  service  of  the  Tabernacle,  not 
brought  by  a  private  offerer.  It  was  to  be  offered  along 
with  the  morning  and  evening  burnt-offering  ;  and  conse- 
quently  as   there  was    to  be   a   daily  or  continual  burnt- 


134  THE  PENTATEUCH 

offering  (Num.  iv.  i6),  so  there  was  to  be  a  daily  or  con- 
tinual meat-offering  (Neh.  x.  33).  The  rejected  minchah  of 
the  son  of  Adam  is  now  indeed  in  a  place  of  honour, 
associated  permanently  with  the  lamb  which  was  the  ex- 
press type  of  the  Lamb  of  God. 

Other  passages  in  which  the  meat-offering  is  associated 
with  the  burnt-offering  are  :  Exod.  xl.  29  ;  Lev.  ix.  17  ;  x.  12, 
13  ;  xiv.  20,  31  ;  Judg.  xiii.  19,  23  ;  i  Chron.  xxi.  23  ;  i  Kings 
viii.  64;  xviii.  29,  36;  2  Kings  iii.  20;  xvi.  13,  15  ;  Ezek. 
xlv.  17  ;  Ezra  vii.  7  ;  Neh.  x.  33  ;  xiii.  5,  9. 

From  this  survey  we  gather  that  the  meat-offering  is  ever 
a  concomitant  of  other  offerings,  which  are  all  animal  ones, 
and  that  it  is  almost  invariably  the  concomitant  of  the 
burnt-offering,  next  to  which  it  stands,  and  no  doubt  for 
that  very  reason  stands,  in  the  list  of  the  offerings.  This 
high  rank  indicates  its  great  importance,  an  importance 
entirely  due  to  its  association  with  the  burnt-offering.  Nor, 
if  we  may  conclude  from  that  frequent  expression,  "and 
their  meat-offerings,"  which  so  frequently  follows  the  men- 
tion of  burnt-offerings,  were  these  last  ever  complete  without 
them. 

Cain's  error  is  now  not  difficult  to  see.  His  minchah 
was  rejected  because  presented  as  an  independent  offering, 
sufficient  in  itself  The  Mosaic  minchah  is  seen  occupying 
its  right  place,  which  is  one  entirely  subordinate  to,  and 
dependent  for  its  validity  upon,  an  offering  which  had  given 
up  the  blood  of  life  ;  for  "  without  shedding  of  blood  there  is 
no  remission." 

It  should  here  be  noted  that  a  drink-offering  {nesek), 
though  absent  from  the  early  chapters  of  Leviticus  now 
before  us,  occurs  in  xxiii.  13,  18,  2>7^  a^nd  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  term  first  appears  in 
Gen.  xxxv.  14,  where  Jacob,  having  erected  a  pillar,  "poured 
a  drink-offering  thereon."  The  next  mention  (Exod.  xxix. 
40,  41)  connects  it  with  the  altar  ritual,  and  it  is  enjoined  as 
a  rule  that  the  daily  lamb  of  a  burnt-offering,  both  morning 
and  evening,  is  to  be  accompanied  with  a  meat-offering  (as 
already  noticed),  and  with  "the  fourth  part  of  a  hin  of  wine 


LEVITICUS  135 

for  a  drink-offering."  As  the  hin  was  equal  to  our  gallon 
the  drink-offering  was  in  this  case  one  quart.  In  several 
passages  besides,  we  find  that  "  the  continual  burnt-offering  " 
was  accompanied  by  a  drink-offering  (Num.  xxviii.  10,  15, 
24,  31  ;  xxix.  II,  16,  19,  34),  while  in  other  burnt-offerings  a 
drink-offering  continually  appears  as  annexed  to  the  meat- 
offering, the  quantity  composing  it  varying  from  one-fourth 
of  a  hin  to  one-third  and  one-half,  never  therefore  exceeding 
half  a  gallon.  The  manner  of  its  offering  is  nowhere  stated  ; 
but  from  the  prohibition  (Exod.  xxx.  9)  of  a  drink-offering 
being  poured  upon  the  incense  altar  within  the  Tabernacle,  it 
is  inferred  that  it  was  poured  upon  the  outer  altar,  as  also 
the  reason  of  the  thing  would  suggest ;  and  it  is  supposed, 
after  the  analogy  of  the  meat-offering,  that  when  a  small 
quantity  of  the  wine  had  been  poured  as  a  memorial  upon 
the  altar,  the  bulk  was  assigned  to  the  priests  for  their  con- 
sumption along  with  the  meat-offering  in  the  court  of  the 
Tabernacle.  It  should  be  added  that  idolaters  offered  drink- 
offerings  to  false  gods(Deut.  xxxii.  38;  Isa.  Ivii.  6;  Ixv.  1 1 ;  Jer. 
vii.  18  ;  xix.  13  ;  xxxii.  19  ;  xliv.  17,  18,  19,  25  ;  Ezek.  xx.  28). 

VI.  The  Peace-Offering  (Shelem)  (Lev.  iii.).— The 
victim  was  from  the  herd  or  from  the  flock,  a  male  or  a 
female,  and  the  manner  of  offering  it  was  as  follows.  The 
fat  upon  the  inwards,  the  kidneys,  the  caul  upon  the  liver, 
having  been  removed  by  the  offerer  from  the  body  of  the 
animal,  were  burnt  by  the  priest  upon  the  altar,  as  an 
'•'  offering  made  by  fire,  of  a  sweet  savour  unto  the  Lord." 
This  "fat"  was  altogether  distinct  from  that  which  is  em- 
bedded in  streaks  in  different  parts  of  the  animal's  body,  and 
not  prohibited  to  the  Israelites  as  food.  These  parts  being  set 
aside,  all  the  remainder  of  the  victim  was  divided  as  follows. 
The  bulk  went  to  the  offerer,  while  the  priest  received  the 
breast  or  brisket  and  the  right  shoulder,  which  were  taken 
possession  of  with  two  ceremonious  movements,  the  shoulder 
being  heaved,  or  lifted  upwards,  the  breast  waved  from  side 
to  side,  causing  these  portions  to  be  named  the  "heave 
shoulder,"  and  the  "wave  breast"  (Ex.  xxix.  38  ;  Lev.  vii.  15, 


136  THE  PENTATEUCH 

16,  31,  32,  34).  Thus  apportioned  the  victim  was  to  be  eaten 
the  same  day,  or  on  the  second  day  at  farthest,  and  any 
remainder  burnt  ;  for  eaten  on  the  third  day  "  it  shall  not  be 
accepted,  neither  shall  it  be  imputed  unto  him  that  offereth 
it ;  it  shall  be  an  abomination"  (vii.  15-18),  language  which 
implies  that  a  feeding  on  this  offering,  if  within  the  prescribed 
period,  was  a  religious  act  inseparable  from  the  sacrifice 
itself 

The  wave  breast  and  the  heave  shoulder  were  eaten  in  a 
clean  place  by  the  priests,  their  sons  and  their  daughters  (x. 
14,  15).  The  offerer's  portion  was  presumably  disposed  of 
(for  nothing  is  said)  in  a  similar  manner ;  and  if  so,  the 
peace-offering  seems  to  have  given  an  opportunity  for  social 
re-unions  among  families  and  kinsfolk,  on  a  somewhat  large 
scale,  the  poor  probably  included,  and  other  invited  guests. 
Occasions  calling  for  a  peace-offering  were,  "  a  thanksgiving," 
"  a  vow,"  or  if  one  desired  to  make  "  a  voluntary  offering " 
without  any  definite  reason  (Lev.  vii.  12,  13,  15,  16  ;  xix.  5  ; 
xxii.  21  ;  Prov.  vii.  14).  In  the  case  of  "  a  vow,"  the  offering 
would  come  at  its  termination,  as  in  that  of  a  Nazarite 
(Num.  vi.  14-18). 

A  characteristic  of  the  peace-offering  was  its  being  entirely 
optional,  not  exacted,  or  in  any  way  penal.  It  was  obliga- 
tory, indeed,  at  the  termination  of  a  vow  ;  but  then  the  vow 
itself  was  optional.  Another  aspect  of  the  peace-offering 
will  come  into  view,  as  we  proceed  to  a  series  of  historical 
examples. 

It  is  first  mentioned  (Exod.  xx.  24)  immediately  after  the 
delivery  of  the  Law,  when  it  was  ordered  that  burnt-offerings 
and  peace-offerings  must  be  sacrificed  on  an  altar  of  earth. 
The  peace-offering,  therefore,  like  the  burnt-offering,  appears 
to  have  been  known  before  the  regulations  of  Leviticus  con- 
cerning it  were  given.  Its  first  recorded  celebration  was 
when  Moses  at  Sinai,  before  the  consecration  of  the  priests^ 
caused  burnt-offerings  and  peace-offerings  to  be  sacrificed 
(Exod.  xxiv.  5).  The  next  instance  was  in  that  awful  act  of 
apostacy,  the  worship  of  the  golden  calf,  when  the  people, 
having  "  offered  burnt-offerings  and  brought  peace-offerings 


LEVITICUS  137 

...  sat  down  to  eat  and  to  drink  and  rose  up  to  play  " — a 
perverted  worship  and  perv^erted  festivity.  Peace-offerings 
were  among  the  first  offered  by  Aaron  after  his  consecration 
(Lev.  ix.  18,  22).  After  Jordan  was  crossed,  burnt-offerings 
and  peace-offerings  were  to  be  offered  on  an  altar  to  be 
erected,  "and  thou  shalt  eat  there  and  rejoice  before  the 
Lord  thy  God"  (Deut.  xxvii.  7).  Here,  on  a  most  worthy 
occasion,  was  the  first  recorded  sanctioned  festivity  con- 
nected with  this  offering.  Among  later  instances  we  may 
notice  i  Sam.  xi.  15  ;  2  Sam.  vi.  17,  18  ;  i  Chron.  xvi.  i,  2  ; 
I  Kings  iii.  15  ;  viii.  63,  64  ;  2  Chron.  xxix.  35.  The  peace- 
offering  is  seldom  mentioned  except  in  close  association 
with  a  burnt-offering  ;  but  it  is  occasionally,  which  shows  its 
independence.  Why  the  combination  should  have  occurred 
on  great  festive  occasions  seems  plain.  The  burnt-offering, 
which  took  the  lead  of  all  offerings,  had  in  itself  no  means 
of  festivity,  being  wholly  devoted  to  the  altar,  and  but  for 
its  association  with  the  peace-offering  could  have  provided 
none.  Thus  the  sacred  solemnity  of  a  whole  burnt-offering 
could  have  its  joyous  side  ;  and  in  like  manner  the  Gospel, 
which  reveals  the  true  Lamb  of  burnt-offering,  can  bid  the 
Christian  "  rejoice  in  the  Lordalway;"  "Christ  our  Pass- 
over is  sacrificed  for  us,  therefore  let  us  keep  the  feast." 

From  three  passages,  and  especially  from  the  third,  it 
might  be  supposed  that  there  was  a  distinct  sacrifice  bear- 
ing the  name  of  sacrifice  of  thanksgh'ing^  or  tha7ik-qff'eri7ig. 
Thus  in  Ps.  cvii.  22,  "  Let  them  sacrifice  the  sacrifice  of 
thanksgiving  "  {tSdah) ;  Ps.  cxvi.  7,  "  I  will  offer  to  thee  the 
sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  ; "  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  16,  Manasseh 
offered  peace-offerings  and  thank-offerings.  In  each  of  these 
passages  the  peace-offering  alone  is  meant,  but  offered  for 
thanksgiving,  according  to  Lev.  vii.  11-15,  where  the  peace- 
offerings  so  offered  are  actually  called  peace-ofi^eri7igs  for 
thanksgiving  and  sacrifice  of  thanksgivings  the  word  for 
thanksgiving  being  tddah.  In  the  third  of  the  above  texts 
the  Hebrew  is  literally  "  sacrifices  of  peace  and  thanksgiv- 
ing," which  is  only  another  way  of  expressing  peace-ofiferings 
for  thanksgiving. 


138  THE  PENTATEUCH 

So  far  as  we  have  yet  gone,  the  order  in  which  the  offerings 
are  enumerated  in  Lev.  i.-vii.,  viz.,  burnt,  meat,  peace,  strik- 
ingly correspond  with  the  order  in  which  they  are  mentioned, 
in  those  historical  instances  in  which  the  same  three  offerings 
alone  are  mentioned.  The  burnt-offering,  which  heads  the 
list  in  Leviticus,  is  always  named  first  in  the  historical  ex- 
amples. The  meat-offering,  the  second  in  the  Leviticus  list, 
ever  stands  second  to  the  burnt-offering  in  the  examples. 

Vn.  The  Sin-Offering  (Chattah)  {Lev.  iv.).  The 
particular  occasion  on  which  this  offering  was  required  is 
thus  defined  at  the  outset  (iv.  2)  :  "  If  a  soul  shall  sin 
through  ignorance  against  any  of  the  commandments  of 
the  Lord  concerning  things  which  ought  not  to  be  done  ;" 
in  other  words,  if  one  should  fall  into  transgression,  yet  not 
wilfully.  Four  classes  of  persons  are  specified  :  (i.)  If  the 
priest  that  is  anointed  {i.e.^  the  high  priest)  do  sin  according 
to  the  sin  of  the  people  (ver.  3).  (2.)  If  the  whole  congrega- 
tion of  Israel  sin  through  ignorance,  and  the  thing  be  hid 
from  the  eyes  of  the  assembly.  (3.)  When  a  ruler  hath 
sinned  and  done  somewhat  through  ignorance  (ver.  22). 
(4.)  If  any  one  of  the  common  people  sin  through  ignorance 
(ver.  27).  "  Through  ignorance  "  may  be  considered  to  mean 
unwittingly,  inadvertently.  The  offerings  required  to  be 
made  were  a  bullock  for  the  first  and  second  cases,  a  kid 
for  the  third,  a  lamb  for  the  fourth.  The  same  parts  of  the 
animal  were  burnt  on  the  altar  as  in  the  case  of  the  peace- 
offering,  namely,  the  fat  that  is  upon  the  inwards  (z>.,  the 
suet),  the  two  kidneys,  and  the  caul  (iv.  8-10).  The  blood 
of  the  victim  and  the  bulk  of  the  carcass  were  disposed  of  in 
two  ways,  according  to  the  class  to  which  the  offerer  be- 
longed, and  these  different  ways  require  attention,  (i.)  In 
the  first  two  cases,  namely,  of  the  high  priest  and  of  the 
whole  congregation.  The  high  priest  taking  a  portion  of 
the  blood  into  the  Tabernacle,  sprinkled  it  with  his  finger 
seven  times  before  the  vail,  and  put  some  on  the  horns  of 
the  golden  altar  of  incense.  All  the  rest  was  poured  out  at 
the  bottom  of  the  altar  of  burnt-offering  (iv.  5-7,  16-18). 


LEVITICUS  139 

Except  in  these  two  cases,  the  blood  of  the  sin-ofFering  was 
never  taken  by  the  high  priest  into  the  Tabernacle.  As  to 
the  carcass,  the  whole  of  it,  except  what  was  burnt  on  the 
altar  as  already  mentioned,  was  carried  without  the  camp 
to  a  clean  place,  where  the  ashes  of  the  altar  (always  wood 
ashes)  were  deposited,  and  there  burnt  on  wood  (iv.  11,  12, 
21).  In  these  two  cases  only,  not  in  all  cases,  was  the  sin- 
offering  burnt  without  the  camp,  and  it  is  expressly  com- 
manded (vi.  30)  that  no  sin-offering  whereof  any  of  the  blood 
is  taken  into  the  Tabernacle  to  make  atonement  for  the  holy 
place  is  to  be  eaten  ;  "  it  shall  be  burnt  in  the  fire."  The 
holiest  parts  of  the  Tabernacle  were  considered  in  these  two 
cases  to  have  incurred  pollution,  and  to  need  cleansing. 
(2.)  In  the  last  two  cases,  those  of  a  ruler  and  one  of  the 
people,  the  ordinary  priest  put  some  of  the  blood  with  his 
finger  upon  the  horns  of  the  altar  of  burnt-offering,  pouring 
the  rest  at  its  foot.  In  the  direction  of  Lev.  iv.,  nothing  is 
said  as  to  the  disposal  of  the  carcass,  but  in  vi.  20  the 
officiating  priest  was  to  eat  it  in  a  (R.V.)  holy  place  in  the 
court  of  the  Tabernacle.  So  also  in  x.  17-19,  where  the 
priests  are  chidden  by  Moses  for  not  having  carried  out 
this  regulation,  but  having  burnt  the  sin-offering.  They 
were  reminded  that  inasmuch  as  the  blood  had  not  been 
carried  into  the  Tabernacle,  the  flesh  ought  to  have  been 
eaten.  So  again.  Num.  xviii.  9,  10,  where  "the  most  holy 
place  "  must  mean  a  holy  place  in  the  court  as  before.  The 
eating  of  the  sin-offering  occurs  again  in  Ezek.  xliv.  29 ;  xlvi. 
20.  Atonement  for  the  offerer  made  by  the  priest  in  the  sin- 
offering  is  mentioned  in  three  cases  out  of  the  four  (iv.  20, 
26,  31),  the  omitted  one  being  that  of  the  high  priest  when 
officiating  for  himself  as  the  offerer.  Whenever  the  sin- 
offering  was  offered  with  the  burnt-offering,  it  took  the  pre- 
cedence, notwithstanding  that  the  burnt-offering  occupies 
the  first  place  in  the  Leviticus  list.  Such  was  markedly  the 
case  on  the  annual  day  of  Atonement  (further  on) ;  and  it 
suggests  that  the  acceptableness  of  the  worshipper  and  his 
service,  as  indicated  by  the  burnt-offering,  presupposed  his 
reconciliation  and  forgiveness.     In  the  ritual  of  the  law,  a 


I40  THE  PENTATEUCH 

sin-offering  was  required  from  a  mother  after  giving  birth 
(Lev.  xii.  8) ;  in  the  cleansing  of  a  leper  (xiv.  19,  22) ;  at  the 
feast  of  Pentecost  (xxiii,  19)  ;  from  a  Nazarite  on  the  com- 
pletion of  his  vow  (Num.  vi.  13-21)  ;  at  the  consecration  of 
Levites  (viii.  8,  12) ;  at  new  moons  and  the  feast  of  un- 
leavened bread  (Num.  xxviii.  15,  22)  ;  at  the  feast  of  trumpets, 
and  on  each  day  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles  (xxix.  5,  11,  16, 
22,  25,  28,  31,  34,  38).  Passing  from  ritual  to  historical  in- 
stances, we  notice  the  sin-offerings  in  Exod.  xxix.  13,  14  ;  2 
Chron.  xxix.  21-24  5  Ezra.  viii.  35  ;  Neh.  x.  23-  The  frequent 
appearance  of  the  sin-offering  in  the  ritual  is  very  observ- 
able ;  the  occasions  for  it  seem  perpetual,  and  the  Israelites 
were  in  need  of  it  at  every  turn.  It  appears  to  have  been  for 
ever  preaching  the  text,  "  Who  can  understand  his  errors  ? 
Cleanse  thou  me  from  secret  faults"  (Ps.  xix.  12).  But  not 
less  noticeable  is  the  comparative  paucity  of  historical  in- 
stances of  this  offering. 

VIII.  Trespass-Offering  (Asham)  (Lev.  v.-vii.  i- 
7). — If  one  incurred  guilt  in  any  of  the  following  ways, 
namely,  by  failing  to  give  all  the  testimony  he  was  adjured 
or  sworn  in  court  to  give  (Lev.  v.  i) ;  or  (vers.  2,  3),  by 
contracting  an  uncleanness  which  became  hidden  from  him 
(viz.,  through  a  culpable  neglect  and  forgetfulness,  so  that 
he  had  omitted  the  simple  purification  which  the  law  had 
provided),  and  subsequently  came  to  know  it  {i.e.,  to  re- 
member it  with  a  troubled  mind) ;  or  by  making  rash  and 
unlawful  oaths  (ver.  4),  which  similarly  became  "hidden" 
or  forgotten  and  were  recalled  to  mind  ;  then,  should  he 
confess  that  he  has  sinned,  and  should  he  "  bring  a  trespass- 
offering  for  his  sin,"  namely  a  female  lamb  or  a  female  kid 
*'  for  a  sin-offering,"  the  priests  "  made  an  atonement  for  him 
concerning  his  sin  "  (ver.  6).  A  poor  man  might  bring  "  for 
his  trespass "  two  turtle-doves  or  two  young  pigeons,  "  one 
for  a  sin-offering  and  the  other  for  a  burnt-offering,"  to  be 
offered  in  this  order,  both  together  completing  one  trespass- 
offering.  If  unable  to  afford  the  birds,  he  might  bring  "  the 
tenth  part  of  an  ephah  of  fine  flour  for  a  sin-offering,"  but 


LEVITICUS  141 

not  accompanied,  as  in  the  meat-offering,  with  oil  and  frank- 
incense, "for  it  is  a  sin-offering"  (vers.  7-12).  The  inter- 
mingling of  the  terms  sin  and  trespass,  sin-offering  and  tres- 
pass-offerings in  this  branch  of  the  subject  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  circumstance  that  the  trespasses  in  view  were, 
ilke  the  sins  of  the  sin-offering,  chiefly  due  to  ignorance  or 
inadvertence.  That  intermingling  which  creates  some  diffi- 
culty, and  has  suggested  doubt  as  to  whether  the  passage 
properly  refers  to  a  trespass-offering,  or  not  rather  to  a 
fresh  and  special  class  of  sin-offering,  leads  us  to  observe 
that  the  trespass-offering  and  the  sin-offering,  though  funda- 
mentally alike  in  their  main  purpose,  which  was  to  provide 
atonement  for  wrong  actions,  differed  in  points  of  form, 
though  not  entirely.  Thus  a  sin-offering  might  consist  of 
a  bullock,  or  a  male  kid,  or  a  female  kid,  or  a  female 
lamb.  A  trespass-offering  might  consist  of  a  ram,  or  a 
female  kid,  or  a  female  lamb,  or  two  turtle-doves,  or  two 
young  pigeons,  or  the  tenth  of  an  ephah  of  flour.  When, 
therefore,  it  is  expressed  as  above,  "  a  trespass-offering  for 
a  sin-offering,"  it  cannot  mean  that  the  trespass-offering 
became  in  itself  a  sin-offering,  but  it  must  mean  that  in 
these  particular  cases,  where  a  sin-offering  might  have  been 
expected,  a  trespass-offering  was  a  substitute  for  one,  and 
performed  the  ofiice  of  one.  The  altar  ritual  of  the  trespass- 
offering  closely  follows  that  of  the  second  and  third  cases 
of  the  sin-offering,  namely,  where  the  blood  was  not  taken 
into  the  Tabernacle,  nor  the  flesh  burnt  without  the  camp. 
The  blood  of  the  trespass-offering  was  sprinkled  round 
about  the  altar,  the  interior  fat,  &c.,  burnt  on  the  altar  of 
burnt-offering,  the  flesh  eaten  by  the  priests  in  a  holy  place. 
"  As  the  sin-offering,  so  is  the  trespass-offering  ;  there  is 
one  law  for  them  ;  the  priest  that  maketh  atonement  there- 
with shall  have  it"  (Lev.  vii.  1-7).  Resuming  now  the  cases 
of  trespass-offerings  where  we  left  off,  we  shall  find  fewer 
difficulties.  If  the  trespass,  through  ignorance,  has  been  "  in 
the  holy  things  of  the  Lord,"  and  reparation  is  made  with 
a  fifth  part  (/>.,  20  per  cent.)  additional,  a  ram  was  brought 
for  a  trespass-offering  and  the  offence  was  atoned  for.     The 


142  THE  PENTATEUCH 

mention  of  reparation  and  a  fine  indicates  that  the  trespass 
here  was  some  unintended  fraud  on  the  Tabernacle  revenue, 
in  tithes  perhaps.  If  the  trespass  consisted  of  wronging  a 
neighbour  wittingly  and  intentionally,  as  in  violating  a  trust, 
robbing  with  violence  or  deceit,  concealing  with  falsehood  and 
perjury  lost  property  that  had  been  found  ;  even  then  a  tres- 
pass-offering would  be  received  and  atonement  made,  but  on 
one  condition,  that  the  trespasser  brought  full  restoration  and 
a  fifth  part  extra  as  a  fine  (vi.  1-7).  Here  we  have  passed 
from  trespasses  of  ignorance  to  trespasses  of  intention.  In  the 
cleansing  of  a  leper  (Lev.  xiv.)  there  was  a  trespass-offering 
of  a  lamb,  besides  a  sin-  and  a  burnt-offering,  not  only  taking 
precedence  of  both  these,  but  occupying  by  far  the  most 
prominent  position.  Some  of  the  blood  was  placed  by 
the  priest's  finger  on  two  or  three  places  of  the  leper's 
body  (vers.  14,  25).  The  flesh  belonged  to  the  priest,  "for 
as  the  sin-offering  is  the  priest's,  so  is  the  trespass-offering" 
j(ver.  13),  another  intimation  of  the  close  relation  of  the 
two.  The  fact  of  the  flesh  of  the  trespass-offering  being 
the  priest's  portion  is  here  expressed  in  a  manner  unusual 
except  in  the  case  of  a  portion  of  the  peace-offering.  It 
was  waved  as  "  a  wave  offering  before  the  Lord  "  (vers.  12,  24, 
25).  A  man  who  allured  away  a  bondmaid  betrothed  to  a 
husband,  they  (marg.  and  R.V.)  were  punished  ;  and  if  the 
man  brought  the  trespass-offering  of  a  ram,  the  priest  made 
atonement  for  him  and  he  was  forgiven  (Lev.  xix.  20-22). 
His  offering  availed  not  apart  from  punishment.  If  one 
sinned  by  a  fraudulent  trespass  against  another,  and  con- 
fessed it,  with  full  reparation,  and  a  fifth  part  in  addition,  to 
the  injured  person,  or  to  his  kinsman,  or  if  there  were  no 
kinsman,  to  the  Lord  in  the  person  of  the  priest,  the  trespass- 
offering  of  a  ram  was  accepted  for  him  and  his  sin  atoned 
for  (Num.  v.  6-8).  Leaving  now  the  ritual  directions  and 
coming  to  historical  instances,  we  note  that  the  trespass- 
offering,  as  it  stands  last  in  the  list,  so  it  is  the  last  of  the 
five  to  be  mentioned.  Its  earliest  occurrence  is  in  Lev.  v.  6, 
after  the  promulgation  of  the  law  and  the  rearing  of  the 
Tabernacle  :     "  And  he   shall   bring   his   trespass  -  offering 


LEVITICUS  143 

unto  the  Lord."  No  trespass-offering  was  offered  in  the 
consecration  of  Aaron  and  his  sons,  and  none  by  Aaron  on 
entering  upon  his  ministry,  although  on  both  those  occasions 
all  the  other  offerings  were.  The  earliest  actual  trespass- 
offering  recorded  was  not  a  Mosaic  one  at  all,  for  it  consisted 
of  the  five  golden  emerods  which  the  Philistines,  by  the 
advice  of  their  own  priests,  sent  back  with  the  ark  (i  Sam. 
vi.  3,  4,  8,  17).  Nor  is  there  any  instance  of  a  trespass- 
offering  after  this.  In  Ezekiel's  Temple,  the  ritual  was  to 
include  the  sin-offering  and  the  trespass-offering  (Ezek.  xl. 
39  ;  xlii.  13  ;  xliv.  29).  We  may  notice  here  that  in  the 
Messianic  passage  of  Isa.  liii.  10,  "When  thou  shalt  make 
his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,"  the  Hebrew  for  "offering"  is 
as/iam,  trespass  offering. 

The  two  allied  sacrifices,  the  sin-offering  and  the  trespass- 
offering,  can  be  clearly  distinguished  in  their  rituals,  and  the 
offences  treated  under  each  can  be  to  some  extent.  The 
sin-offering  was  chief  in  rank  and  dignity.  It  was  for  the 
high  priest,  for  the  nation  ;  it  was  for  the  holy  of  holies,  the 
mercy-seat  and  the  golden  altar  ;  it  was  for  the  great  day  of 
atonement  ;  it  was  for  those  countless  lapses  and  short- 
comings measured  by  a  perfect  law  by  man  forgotten  or 
never  truly  realised.  The  trespass-offering  dealt  with  the 
poor  leper,  and  with  those  obvious  offences  which  the  word 
trespass  best  expresses,  of  which  the  damages  could  be 
assessed,  and  for  which  the  wrong-doer  could  bring  a  fine 
along  with  his  sacrifice.  With  a  little  mental  effort,  therefore, 
we  can  broadly  distinguish  the  two  and  fix  them  by  a  few 
typical  instances.  But  at  times  they  run  into  each  other 
and  mix  perplexingly,  completely  baffling  every  attempt  to 
construct  a  classifying  formula  which  shall  accurately  in- 
clude the  members  of  each  category.  The  ancient  experts 
who  had  to  administer  the  ritual  laws  were  no  doubt  equal 
■to  their  duty,  but  for  the  profitable  reading  of  Holy  Scripture 
now,  absolute  exactitude  would  not  appear  to  be  necessary. 

The  various  applications  of  these  two  solemn  offerings,  as 
detailed  in  chapter  after  chapter,  reveal  a  very  close  teach- 
ing of  the  heart  and  searching  of  the  conscience  made  by 


144  THE  PENTATEUCH 

the  law  of  Moses ;  and  this  at  all  events  is  perfectly  clear, 
that  the  Israelites  were  not  encouraged  to  suppose  that  an 
offence  of  moral  turpitude  or  scandalous  shortcomings  in 
life  could  be  condoned  by  a  ceremonial  performance.  That 
they  would  attempt  so  to  delude  themselves  is  certain  ;  for 
it  has  ever  been  in  the  nature  of  man  to  do  so.  But  the 
prophetic  writings  abundantly  show  the  efforts  made  by  the 
inspired  masters  of  Israel  to  call  such  antinomianism,  which 
is  the  plague  of  every  age  and  every  religious  system,  to 
severe  account.  Men  who  hated  to  be  reformed,  but  never 
missed  an  offering,  were  rebuked  in  such  language  as  the 
following  : — 

"  I  will  not  reprove  thee  for  thy  sacrifices,  or  thy  burnt- 
offerings,  to  have  been  continually  before  Me.  I  will  take 
no  bullock  out  of  thy  house,  nor  he-goats  out  of  thy  folds  ; 
for  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  Mine,  and  so  are  the  cattle  on 
a  thousand  hills.  Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls,  or  drink  the 
blood  of  goats  ?  Offer  unto  God  thanksgiving,  and  pay  thy 
vows  unto  the  Most  High.  .  .  .  But  unto  the  wicked  God 
saith,  What  hast  thou  to  do  to  declare  My  statutes,  or 
that  thou  shouldest  take  My  covenant  in  thy  mouth,  see- 
ing thou  hatest  instruction,  and  castest  My  words  behind 
thee?"  (Ps.  1.) 

"  To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto 
me  ?  saith  the  Lord.  I  am  full  of  the  burnt-offerings  of  rams, 
and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts  ;  and  I  delight  not  in  the  blood  of 
bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of  he-goats.  .  .  .  Wash  you,  make 
you  clean  ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before 
Mine  eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to  do  well"  (Isa.  i.). 

IX.  The  Priests  Consecrated  {Lev.  viii.).— At  the 
door  of  the  Tabernacle,  close  to  the  altar  and  the  laver,  in 
sight  of  the  nation  assembled  far  and  near,  Aaron  and  his 
sons  were  made  priests,  by  rites  which  Moses  himself  per- 
formed according  to  instructions  divinely  communicated  to 
him  in  detail.  The  father  and  his  four  sons,  Nadab,  Abihu, 
Eleazer,  Ithamar,  having  been  first  washed  or  bathed,  were 
robed  as  follows  in  what  were  to  be  the  vestments  of  their 


LEVITICUS  145 

oiTice.  The  case  of  Aaron  is  very  markedly  distinguished 
from  that  of  his  sons,  though  he  here  bears  in  common  with 
them  the  title  of  priest  only.  Upon  him  were  successively 
placed  an  inner  long  white  garment  girded  close  to  the 
body,  and  named  a  coat  ;  then  a  shorter  blue  one  reaching 
to  the  knees,  the  robe  of  the  ephod  ;  next  the  ephod  itself, 
richly  variegated  and  shorter,  girded  to  the  body.  Upon 
the  chest  was  placed  the  breastplate  of  judgment,  con- 
sisting of  two  square  pieces  of  woven  work,  one  behind  the 
other,  the  outer  one  studded  with  twelve  precious  stones 
inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  tribes  of  Israel,  and  united 
at  its  lower  edge  with  the  lower  edge  of  the  inner  piece,  by 
which  was  formed  a  fold,  or  rest,  or  pocket.  Another  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  Aaron's  official  equipment  was  the 
urim  and  thummim,  by  which  the  divine  will  was  indicated, 
and  which  appear  to  have  rested  on  the  inner  fold  just 
described.  The  nature  of  these  seems  to  have  completely 
baffled  the  ingenuity  of  expositors  to  explain  with  any 
approach  to  certainty  ;  but  the  opinion  has  found  much 
favour  that  the  articles  in  question  were  instruments  for 
drawing  lots.  The  words  themselves,  which  are  Hebrew, 
mean  lights  and  perfections.  Finally,  upon  Aaron's  head 
was  placed  a  covering,  here  called  a  mitre,  resembling,  it  is 
thought,  an  Oriental  turban.  On  its  forefront  it  bore  a  holy 
crown,  which  was  a  golden  plate  inscribed  with  the  words. 
Holiness  to  the  Lord.  At  one  stage  of  this  ceremonial 
Moses  poured  upon  Aaron's  head  the  holy  anointing  oil. 
Sacrifices  followed,  a  sin-offering,  a  burnt-offering,  and  a 
ram  of  consecration,  with  the  blood  of  all  of  which  Aaron 
was  sprinkled.  Thus  washed,  anointed,  sprinkled,  with 
water,  oil,  and  sacrificial  blood,  Aaron  was  regarded  as 
consecrated  to  the  office  of  approaching  God  in  the  name 
and  in  the  behalf  of  the  people  of  Israel.  The  four  sons, 
more  simply  robed,  had  but  the  long  white  coat  for  the 
body,  and  for  the  head  a  bonnet  or  (R.V.)  head-tire.  The 
sacrifices  and  the  blood-sprinkling  were  repeated  for  them 
as  in  the  case  of  their  father.  They  were  also  anointed,  but 
not  with  the  same  marked  distinction.  That  they  were  to 
s.  T.  i-^ 


146  THE  PENTATEUCH 

be  anointed  at  their  consecration  along  with  their  father  is 
stated  in  Exod.  xxviii.  41  ;  xl.  15  ;  Lev.  vii.  35,  36  ;  and  it  was 
done  at  that  later  stage  of  the  ceremony  when  the  ram  of 
consecration  had  been  offered,  Aaron  himself  participating 
in  the  same  rite,  when  the  blood  of  that  offering  along  with 
the  anointing  oil  was  sprinkled  upon  both  father  and  sons, 
and  upon  the  robes  of  them  all  (Lev.  viii.  30).  Thus  in  Lev, 
X.  7,  two  of  the  sons,  and  in  Num.  iii.  3,  all  four  are  mentioned 
as  having  been  anointed.  It  may  be  noted  that  Aaron,  with 
all  the  marks  and  attributes  of  the  priestly  order,  is  nowhere 
called  "high  priest."  The  title  is  rarely  found  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  only  in  the  following  places  :  Lev.  xxi.  10  ; 
Num.  XXXV.  25  (cf.  Lev.  iv.  3,  5,  16) ;  Josh.  xx.  6  ;  2  Kings 
xii.  9,  10;  xxii.  4;  2  Chron.  xxiv.  11  ;  Neh.  iii.  i  ;  Zech.  iii. 
I,  8;  vi.  II.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  but  nowhere 
else,  our  Lord  is  often  called  High  Priest  (as  in  ii.  17), 
"  to  make  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the  people."  The 
various  articles  of  the  priestly  attire  are  nowhere  in  Scripture 
recognised  as  having  individually  any  hidden  meaning  ;  but 
taken  altogether  they  obviously  denote  the  holy  nature  of  the 
sacred  functions  and  the  personal  holiness  with  which  priests 
must  engage  in  them.  The  sacrifices  and  the  blood-sprinkling 
in  the  rites  of  consecration  no  less  pointedly  signify  that 
worship  rendered  to  God,  so  far  from  being  a  favour  or 
compliment  or  propitiation  offered  to  Him,  as  the  heathen  of 
all  ages  and  everywhere  have  imagined,  is  accepted  by  God 
out  of  His  infinite  condescension  alone,  and  only  after  the 
worshipper,  having  acknowledged  the  iniquity  of  his  very 
holiest  acts,  has  been  purified  from  it.  "  Let  thy  priests  be 
clothed  with  righteousness"  (Ps.  cxxxii.  9,  16);  "And  he 
shall  purify  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  purge  them  as  gold  and 
silver,  that  they  may  offer  unto  the  Lord  an  offering  in 
righteousness"  (Mai.  iii.  3). 

X.  The  Priests  enter  on  their  Ministry  {Lev. 
ix.). — Various  sacrifices  were  in  the  first  place  offered  by 
them  for  themselves  and  the  people,  as  directed  by  Moses  ; 
by  which  was  plainly  intimated  that  the  priests,  arrayed  as 


LEVITICUS  147 

they  might  be  in  holy  garments,  were  but  sinful  in  them- 
selves, having  no  good  thing  of  their  own  to  bestow,  and 
being  incapable  of  becoming  channels  of  divine  grace  to 
their  brethren  until  themselves  accepted  by  God  and  their 
iniquity  atoned  for.  Aaron  then  standing  upon  the  altar 
raised  his  hand  towards  the  people  and  blessed  them. 
Descending  thence  he  and  Moses  went  together  into  the 
Tabernacle,  that  being  Aaron's  first  introduction  into  the 
holy  place  ;  and  on  coming  out  again  they  both  blessed 
the  people,  whereupon  the  glory  of  the  Lord  appeared  to  the 
whole  multitude.  Then  there  issued  a  fire  from  God  which 
consumed  all  the  burnt-offering  upon  the  altar ;  seeing 
which  the  people  raised  a  shout  and  prostrated  themselves 
on  their  faces  to  the  ground,  clearly  recognising  that  God 
had  accepted  this  whole  service  and  ratified  the  appoint- 
ment of  Aaron.  By  a  similar  token  of  fire  from  heaven 
God  (at  a  later  day)  accepted  Manoah,  Elijah,  David,  Solo- 
mon. It  had  become  perfectly  evident  to  the  nation  that 
they  were  being  divinely  instructed  in  the  proper  worship  of 
that  God  who  had  given  His  law  in  Ten  Commandments 
from  Sinai  and  had  brought  them  out  of  Egypt,  their  Father, 
Friend,  and  Sanctifier. 

XI.  The  Death  of  Nadab  and  Abihu(Z^z/.  x.).— With 
what  object  and  motives  we  are  not  informed,  these  elder 
sons  of  Aaron,  after  their  own  device,  took  each  of  them  a 
censer,  and  putting  into  it  fire,  upon  which  they  cast  incense, 
"offered  strange  fire  before  the  Lord  which  He  commanded 
them  not."  Thereupon  issued  fire  from  the  Lord,  devouring 
them,  and  they  died  before  the  Lord.  The  same  fire  from 
God  which  accepted  the  authorised  services,  as  already  de- 
scribed, rejected  the  unauthorised  ones  along  with  those  who 
offered  them.  This  was  a  lesson  to  the  priesthood  that  the 
ritual  prescribed  to  them  in  such  minute  detail  was  not  theirs 
to  do  what  they  liked  with,  but  God's,  to  be  carried  out  in 
ever)'  particular.  The  world  was  full  of  human  inventions  as 
to  the  way  of  approaching  God.  It  pleased  Him  to  reveal 
the  (one  and  only)  way  in  which  He  would  be  approached  by 


148  THE  PENTATEUCH 

His  covenant  people  Israel,  and  the  part  of  His  priests  was 
to  be  docile  and  obedient  learners.  From  the  fact  stated  in 
Lev.  xvi.  I,  2,  that  it  was  upon  their  death  Aaron  received  in- 
structions as  to  how  the  holy  place  was  to  be  entered,  it  is  to 
be  inferred  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  two  wilful  priests 
to  pass  within  the  vail  ;  but  if  so,  they  had  not  even  entered 
the  Tabernacle  when  they  died  "  before  the  Lord,"  as  their 
corpses  were  carried  out  of  the  camp  "  from  before  the 
sanctuary"  (ver,  4). 

XI L  Animal  Foods  {Lev.  xi.). — Rules  are  here  laid  down 
as  to  what  animals  might  be  used  as  food,  and  what  not. 
Those  that  were  allowed  are  classified  generally  as  animals 
which  both  part  the  hoof  and  chew  the  cud.  Chewing  the 
cud  is  when  an  herbivorous  animal,  after  swallowing  its  food 
almost  in  the  state  in  which  it  was  cropped,  has  the  power 
of  bringing  it  up  again  into  its  mouth  for  rechewing  at  its 
leisure,  to  secure  a  more  perfect  digestion.  Such  animals 
are  readily  recognised  by  the  peculiar  motion  of  their  jaws 
when  they  are  no  longer  grazing,  and  they  have  stomachs 
especially  adapted  to  the  process.  In  modern  science  they 
are  rumi7iants.  The  ox,  deer,  sheep,  goat  kinds  are  rumi- 
nants, and  as  all  these  have  parted  or  double  hoofs,  they 
were  allowed  as  food.  The  camel,  which  is  a  ruminant,  but 
does  not  part  the  hoof  except  in  a  very  imperfect  manner, 
was  disallowed.  The  coney  and  the  hare  are  forbidden  on 
the  ground  of  their  not  parting  the  hoof,  though  they  chewed 
the  cud.  In  strictness  they  do  not  chew  the  cud,  not  being 
ruminants  ;  but  it  was  then  the  current  belief,  from  their 
having  that  peculiar  movement  of  the  mouth.  They  were, 
therefore,  classified  as  such,  and  as  appearances  might  have 
caused  mistakes,  they  were  mentioned  by  appearances,  in 
order  to  be  forbidden.  Swine,  neither  chewing  the  cud  nor 
parting  the  hoof,  were  forbidden.  The  flesh  of  this  animal, 
wholesome  in  northern  climates,  is  the  reverse  in  very  warm 
ones.  Among  fish  none  might  be  eaten  except  those  having 
both  fins  and  scales,  a  rule  which  would  exclude  the  eel ;  but 
no  instances  are  cited.     For  birds  no  general  rule  is  laid 


LEVITICUS  149 

down,  but  a  long  list  is  given,  all  of  them,  as  far  as  they  can 
be  identified,  carnivorous,  as  the  eagle,  ossifrage,  osprey, 
vulture,  kite,  raven,  owl,  night-hawk,  cuckoo,  hawk,  little 
owl,  cormorant,  great  owl,  swan,  pelican,  gier-eagle,  stork, 
heron,  lapwing.  Whether  the  birds  now  thus  named  are 
meant  by  the  Hebrew  words  is,  in  several  instances,  very 
uncertain.  Flying  insects  possessing  long  legs  for  leaping 
might  be  eaten,  such  as  the  cricket,  grasshopper,  locust,  the 
last  two  of  which  are  specified.  What  the  creature  called 
"beetle"  was  is  not  known.  The  insects  that  are  here 
allowed  are  still  eaten  in  the  East. 


XIII.  Plague  of  Leprosy  (Lev.  xiii.-xiv.).— How  far 
this  disorder  was  identical  with  the  one  now  so  named  is  un- 
certain. It  began  on  the  skin,  and  upon  the  appearance  of 
a  suspicious  symptom,  whether  "a  rising,  a  scab,  or  a  bright 
spot,"  the  patient  was  taken  to  the  priest,  who  pronounced  if 
it  was  leprosy  or  only  "  a  scab."  The  leper  was  to  have  his 
clothes  rent,  his  head  bare,  and  a  covering  on  his  upper  lip. 
He  was  to  cry.  Unclean,  unclean,  and  dwell  alone  without 
the  camp  (xiii.  45,  46).  In  case  of  recovery  the  following 
rites  admitted  him  to  society  (xiv.  4).  Along  with  cedar- 
wood,  scarlet  (probably  scarlet  wool),  and  hyssop,  two  clean 
living  birds  were  brought,  and  one  of  them  killed  in  an 
earthen  vessel  over  fresh  water,  which  thus  received  its 
blood.  Into  this  water  were  dipped  the  above  materials, 
made  up  perhaps  into  an  instrument  for  sprinkling,  and 
also  the  living  bird,  which  was  then  allowed  to  fly  away. 
Lastly,  the  water  was  sprinkled  seven  times  over  the  person 
to  be  cleansed.  Among  the  rites,  which  spread  over  some 
days,  a  trespass-offering  w^as  particularly  prominent,  and 
there  were  besides  a  sin-,  a  burnt-,  and  a  meat-offering.  The 
leprosy  which  infected  garments  and  walls  could  have  borne 
that  name  only  from  an  analogy  to  the  human  disease,  and 
may  have  been  occasioned,  some  have  thought,  by  a  kind 
of  hidden  fungus.  What  significance  of  a  spiritual  nature 
attached  to  this  disease  is  nowhere  expressly  stated  ;  but 


I50  THE  PENTATEUCH 

with  one  voice  interpreters  have  ever  regarded  it  as  the  out- 
ward symbol  of  sin. 

XIV.  The  Day  of  Atonement  (Lev.  xvi.).— The  tenth 
day  of  the  seventh  month  was  the  only  one  in  the  year, 
when  the  holy  of  holies  might  be  entered  in  the  course  of 
divine  service.  The  directions  on  this  subject  were  given 
"  after  the  death  of  the  two  sons  of  Aaron,  when  they  offered 
before  the  Lord  and  died  ; "  and  they  were  intended  for  the 
guidance  of  Aaron,  lest  he  should  die  like  his  sons.  The 
robes  worn  by  Aaron  on  that  day  appear  to  have  been  those  of 
an  ordinary  priest  (ver.  4).  For  himself  he  provided  a  young 
bullock  for  a  sin-offering,  and  a  ram  for  a  burnt -offering, 
and  the  people  brought  him  on  their  own  behalf  two  young 
goats  for  a  sin-offering,  and  a  ram  for  a  burnt -offering. 
Which  of  the  two  goats  was  to  die  he  determined  by  lot. 
Having  offered  his  sin-offering  for  himself  and  his  house,  he 
filled  a  censer  with  burning  embers  from  the  altar,  and  with 
this  in  one  hand,  and  incense  in  the  other,  he  entered  within 
the  vail,  filling  the  holy  of  holies  with  a  cloud,  and  thus  hid- 
ing the  divine  glory,  so  that  he  died  not.  Leaving  the  censer 
there,  he  went  back  to  the  brazen  altar  to  fetch  the  victim's 
blood,  which  apparently  he  could  not  have  carried  along 
with  the  censer  the  first  time,  and  taking  this  into  the  holy 
of  holies  sprinkled  it  upon  and  before  the  mercy-seat.  He 
returned  once  more  to  the  outer  altar,  where  the  people's 
sin-offering,  the  goat  allotted  for  death,  was  offered,  and 
with  the  blood  of  this  he  passed  for  the  third  time  within 
the  vail,  and  sprinkled  as  before.  This  done  he  went  "  out 
unto  the  altar  that  is  before  the  Lord"  (ver.  18),  which  must 
mean  the  golden  altar  of  incense,  upon  which  he  put  and 
sprinkled  the  blood  of  both  sin-offerings,  in  two  actions,  one 
of  which  made  an  atonement  for  the  altar  itself,  while  the 
other  cleansed  and  hallowed  it  from  the  uncleanness  of  the 
children  of  Israel.  An  atonement  had  now  been  made  for 
the  holy  place  and  for  the  Tabernacle,  "because  of  the 
uncleanness  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  because  of  their 
trangressions  in  all  their  sins  "  (vers.  16,  20).    By  this  time  he 


LEVITICUS  151 

had  already  perhaps  brought  out  the  censer  from  the  holy 
of  holies.  Taking  the  goat  allotted  for  life,  and  laying  his 
hands  upon  him,  Aaron  confessed  over  him  all  the  iniquities 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  all  their  transgressions  in  all 
their  sins,  putting  them  upon  the  head  of  the  goat,  and  sent 
him  away  by  the  hand  of  a  fit  man  into  the  wilderness.  And 
the  goat  bore  upon  him  all  their  iniquities  unto  a  land  not 
inhabited,  and  there  he  was  let  go  for  a  scape-goat,  or  in 
the  Hebrew,  for  Azazel  (and  so  R.V.).  The  meaning  of 
this  word  is  not  settled,  but  the  uncertainty  is  immaterial,  as 
the  main  point  is  perfectly  clear,  that  the  sins  of  the  nation 
were  removed  from  God's  sight  for  ever.  Re-entering  the 
Tabernacle,  Aaron  exchanged  his  "  linen  garments,"  the  plain 
ones  in  which  he  had  been  officiating,  for  "his  garments"  (vers. 
23,  24),  z>.,  the  robes  in  which  he  was  consecrated  (cf.  Lev. 
xxi.  10),  his  rich  and  beautiful  ones,  betokening  exultation 
and  joy ;  and  coming  forth  in  these  (ver.  24),  he  made  another 
atonement  for  himself  and  the  people  by  burnt-offerings  for 
both. 

This  annual  day  of  atonement  was  to  be  one  of  humilia- 
tion, "  for  on  that  day  shall  the  priest  make  atonement  for 
you,  to  cleanse  you,  that  ye  may  be  clean  from  all  your  sins 
before  the  Lord.  And  he  shall  make  an  atonement  for  the 
holy  sanctuary,  and  he  shall  make  an  atonement  for  the 
tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  and  for  the  altar,  and  for 
the  priests,  and  for  all  the  people  of  the  congregation.  And 
this  shall  be  an  everlasting  statute  to  you,  to  make  an  atone- 
ment for  the  children  of  Israel  for  all  their  sins  once  a  year" 
(vers.  30,  33,  34). 

On  this  whole  narrative  we  observe — (i.)  The  exact  number 
of  times  that  Aaron  passed  the  vail  is  a  matter  of  calculation 
and  interpretation.  Twice  we  are  sure  of,  for  he  carried  in  the 
blood  for  the  priesthood  and  for  the  people  separately.  His 
taking  in  the  censer  separately  is  most  probable,  and  that 
would  make  thrice.  His  fetching  it  out  may  have  made,  as 
some  think,  a  fourth  time.  But  even  four  times  would  not 
be  inconsistent  with  the  "once  every  year"  of  Heb.  x.  7,  for 
any  number  of  entries  in  one  connected  ritual  on  a  single 


152  THE  PENTATEUCH 

day  would  be  completely  covered  by  that  expression.  (2.) 
The  grand  purpose  of  Aaron's  entry  into  the  holy  of  holies 
on  this  day  was  to  carry  in,  and  there  sprinkle  blood,  where- 
with to  make  atonement.  The  censer  and  the  incense  were 
quite  subordinate  to  that  main  object,  enabling  it  to  be 
effected  by  the  priest  with  personal  safety — "that  he  die 
not."  (3.)  The  service  of  this  day  is  expressly  recognised 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  as  pointing  to  Christ.  "  The 
priests  went  always  into  the  first  tabernacle  accomplishing 
the  service  of  God  ;  but  into  the  second  went  the  high  priest 
alone,  once  every  year,  not  without  blood,  which  he  offered 
for  himself  and  for  the  errors  of  the  people  ;  the  Holy  Ghost 
thus  signifying,  that  the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all  was  not 
yet  made  manifest  while  as  the  first  tabernacle  was  yet 
standing,  which  was  a  figure  for  the  time  then  present.  .  .  . 
But  Christ  being  come  an  high  priest  of  good  things  to 
come,  by  a  greater  and  more  perfect  tabernacle,  not  made 
with  hands,  that  is  to  say,  not  of  this  building ;  neither  by 
the  blood  of  goats  and  calves,  but  by  His  own  blood  He 
entered  in  once  into  the  holy  place,  having  obtained  eternal 
redemption  for  us.  .  .  .  For  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the 
holy  places  made  with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the 
true,  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of 
God  for  us.  Nor  yet  that  He  should  offer  Himself  often,  as 
the  high  priest  entereth  into  the  holy  place  every  year  with 
the  blood  of  others  ;  for  then  must  He  often  have  suffered 
"since  the  foundation  of  the  world.  But  now  once  in  the 
end  of  the  world  hath  He  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by  the 
sacrifice  of  Himself." 

XV.  Blood  Prohibited  as  Food  {Lev.  xvii.  10-16). — 
The  prohibition  is  solemnly  reiterated  throughout  this  pas- 
sage, and  the  reason  given  is,  "  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is 
in  the  blood,  and  I  have  given  it  to  you  upon  the  altar,  to 
make  an  atonement  for  your  souls  ;  for  it  is  the  blood  that 
maketh  an  atonement  for  the  soul."  If  a  beast  of  the  chase, 
or  a  bird,  was  captured  in  the  field,  the  blood  was  to  be 
poured  out  and  covered  with  dust. 


LEVITICUS  153 

XVI.  The  Customs  of  Egypt  and  Canaan  For- 
bidden. (Read  Lev.  xviii.) — With  the  single  exception  of 
the  dev'oting  of  children  to  Molech  in  Canaan,  here  briefly 
touched  on,  the  customs  refer  to  various  abuses  of  the  sexual 
relations,  customs  which  Israel  was  to  regard  as  loathsome 
and  infamous.  By  reason  of  them  Canaan  was  considered 
so  polluted  as  to  be  about  to  vomit  forth  its  inhabitants,  as  it 
would  the  Israelites  also  at  a  subsequent  period,  if  ever  they 
became  similarly  contaminated.  Israel's  fatal  temptation, 
however,  lay  less  in  this  direction  than  in  that  of  idolatry. 

XVII.  Against  Offering  Children  to  Molech. 
(Read  Lev.  xx.  2-5.) — Of  this  Canaanitish  custom  no  details 
are  recorded  in  the  Bible  ;  the  barbarous  accompaniments 
sometimes  given  in  illustration  from  classic  authors  refer  to 
other  lands  and  periods.  The  passage  before  us  shows  male 
and  female  children  devoted  to  Molech  by  their  own  parents, 
and  the  following  of  such  an  example  in  Israel  was  to  be 
made  a  capital  crime.  Elsewhere  (Lev.  xviii.  21  ;  2  Kings 
xxiii.  10;  Jer.  xxxii.  35)  children  passed  through  the  fire  to 
Molech,  but  in  what  ritual  form  we  are  not  told.  The  words 
themselves  do  not  necessarily  imply  that  life  was  taken  ;  but 
some  parallel  texts,  where  the  god  is  some  other  than  Molech, 
do  assert  that  extremity,  e.g.,  Ps.  cvi.  37,  38;  Jer.  vii.  31  ; 
xix.  5  ;  Ezek.  xvi.  20,  21  ;  xxiii.  27- 

XVIII.  The  ProxMised  Land  for  a  Godly  People 
{Lev.  XX.  6-27). — Dealers  with  wizards  and  people  with 
familiar  spirits  will  be  cut  off.  "  Sanctify  yourselves  there- 
fore, and  be  ye  holy  ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  your  God,  and  ye 
shall  keep  My  statutes,  and  do  them  ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  which 
sanctify  you  "  (vers.  7,  8).  The  cursing  of  father  or  mother  is 
punishable  with  death  (ver.  9) ;  so  likewise  are  adultery  and 
various  kinds  of  abominable  incests,  after  a  black  list  of 
which  there  is  again  an  appeal  to  hearts,  in  terms  that  in- 
dicate the  awful  wickedness  of  the  heathenism  from  which 
Israel  was,  if  possible,  to  be  kept  separate  :  "Ye  shall  there- 
fore keep  all  My  statutes  and  all  My  judgments,  and  do 


134  THE  PENTATEUCH 

them  ;  that  the  land  whither  I  bring  you  to  dwell  therein 
spue  you  not  out.  And  ye  shall  not  walk  in  the  manner  of 
the  nations  which  I  cast  out  before  you.  ...  I  am  the  Lord 
your  God  which  have  separated  you  from  other  people.  And 
ye  shall  be  holy  unto  Me  :  for  I  the  Lord  am  holy  and  have 
severed  you  from  other  people  that  ye  should  be  Mine" 
(vers.  22-26). 

XIX.  Feasts  of  the  Lord  {Lev.  xxiii.). — Under  this 
head  are  here  enumerated  seven  days  of  solemn  observance 
not  limited  to  what  we  commonly  mean  by  festive  days. 
All  of  them  were  "proclaimed"  (ver.  4),  perhaps  by  a 
blowing  of  trumpets  to  be  mentioned  further  on.  None 
are  singled  out  in  Leviticus  as  being  "great"  in  comparison 
with  others,  (i.)  The  Weekly  Sabbath  (vers.  1-3}.  "Six 
days  shall  work  be  done,  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  sabbath 
of  rest,  and  holy  convocation  ;  ye  shall  do  no  work  therein  ; 
it  is  the  sabbath  of  the  Lord  in  all  your  dwellings."  Here 
is  an  institution  of  rest  amid  the  toils  of  life  ;  but  it  is  also 
a  holy  rest.  "Holy  convocation"  points  to  a  public  holy 
recognition  ;  "  sabbath  of  the  Lord  in  all  your  dwellings," 
to  a  private  and  domestic  one.  "  Holy  convocation,"  an 
expression  nowhere  distinctly  explained,  must  imply  some 
kind  of  religious  service,  perhaps  a  public  attendance  at  the 
offerings  of  the  day.  (2  and  3.)  Passover  and  Unleavened 
Bread.  These  were  strictly  two  distinct  feasts.  "The 
Lord's  Passover,"  observed  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first 
month  at  even  (Exod.  xii)  need  not  be  enlarged  upon  here. 
It  was  reckoned  one  of  the  holy  convocation  days.  The 
feast  of  unleavened  bread,  beginning  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
the  first  month,  and  therefore  on  the  morrow  of  the  pass- 
over,  lasted  seven  days,  on  which  unleavened  bread  was 
exclusively  to  be  eaten.  On  the  first  and  seventh  days 
there  was  a  holy  convocation  and  all  "  servile "  work  was 
laid  aside,  such  perhaps  as  agriculture  and  trade,  domestic 
work  being  probably  permitted.  If  so,  the  rest  enjoined 
on  these  convocation  days  was  less  strict  than  that  of  the 
weekly  sabbath.     On  each  of  the  seven  days  likewise  there 


LEVITICUS  155 

was  "an  offering  made  by  fire"  (vers.  6-8).  Connected  with 
the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  was  the  sheaf  of  first-fruits  of 
barley  harvest,  when  Canaan  should  be  gained.  This  sheaf, 
brought  to  the  priest,  was  waved  by  him,  in  sign  of  its  being 
apportioned  to  him,  and  not  before  this  ceremony  might  the 
barley  harvest  be  eaten  (vers.  9-14).  (4.)  Feast  of  Harvest. 
Such  is  its  title  here  and  in  Exod.  xxiii.  16.  In  Exod.  xxxiv. 
22  ;  Ueut.  xvi.  9,  10,  it  is  the  "feast  of  weeks,"  to  be  kept 
when  seven  weeks  (a  week  of  weeks)  had  elapsed  from  the 
first  day  of  unleavened  bread.  Its  falling  on  the  fiftieth  day 
from  that  same  caused  it  to  be  known,  as  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  Pentecost  (TrevTTjKoaros,  fiftieth).  The  first-fruits  of 
this  harvest  were  brought  to  the  priest  in  the  form  of  two 
loaves  of  leavened  bread,  they  being  wholly  for  food  and 
not  for  the  altar.  After  the  ceremony  of  waving  they  be- 
came the  priest's  portion.  (5.)  Feast  of  Trumpets  (vers.  23- 
25).  This  is  a  title  which  is  adopted  by  expositors  but  does 
not  occur  in  Scripture.  In  the  present  passage  it  is  "A 
memorial  of  blowing  of  trumpets,"  and  in  Num.  xxix.  i,  "  A 
day  of  blowing  of  trumpets."  The  ceremony  was  observed 
on  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month,  which  was  kept  as  a 
sabbath,  with  a  holy  convocation  and  without  servile  work. 
Trumpets  were  sounded  on  several  other  days  and  occasions, 
answering  in  that  age  the  purpose  of  great  bells,  which  had 
not  then  been  invented.  It  is  believed  that  they  are  men- 
tioned on  this  particular  day  here  because  the  civil  year 
began  now.  (6.)  Day  of  Atonement  (vers.  26-32).  This 
was  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month,  more  strictly  com- 
mencing on  the  evening  of  the  ninth  and  ending  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  tenth.  It  was  a  day  of  holy  convocation,  with  no 
work,  the  word  "  servile "  being  here  omitted,  "  no  work  at 
all"  (Lev.  XV.  29),  a  day  of  afflicting  the  soul,  and  for  an 
offering  made  by  fire.  This  was  the  day  of  the  annual 
entiy  of  the  high  priest  within  the  vail  ;  and  as  we  know 
all  the  observances  (Lev.  xvi.),  we  can  gain  from  them  the 
idea  of  what  "  holy  convocation  "  meant.  Such  a  day  being 
placed  among  "feasts"  proves  that  this  term  is  used  in  the 
neutral  sense  of  "solemnity."    (7.)  Feast  of  Tabernacles 


156  THE  PENTATEUCH 

(vers.  33-44).  It  began  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  seventh 
month,  and  lasted  seven  days,  with  a  holy  convocation  on  the 
first.  No  "  servile  "  work  was  permitted,  and  people  were  to 
dwell  in  booths  of  palm,  willow,  and  other  trees,  rejoicing 
before  God.  The  immediate  occasion  of  this  festival  was  the 
end  of  gathering  in  "  the  fruit  of  the  land,"  i.e.,  especially 
the  tree-fruit,  such  as  grapes  and  figs.  It  was  the  latest  of 
the  harvests. 

XX.  The  Lights  of  the  Tabernacle  {Lev.  xxiv.  i,  2). 
— These  were  to  be  fed  with  "  pure  olive  oil  (R.V.)  beaten," 
by  which  is  probably  meant  the  oil  beaten  out  of  the  berry, 
a  purer  kind  than  that  crushed  out  of  it.  The  lamps  of  the 
candlestick  were  to  be  kept  burning  before  the  Lord  con- 
tinually, and  Aaron  was  to  attend  to  this  from  evening  unto 
morning.  In  the  corresponding  passage  (Exod.  xxvii.  20, 21), 
Aaron  and  his  sons  are  in  charge  of  the  lights.  This  is 
alluded  to  in  Ps.  cxxxiv.  i,  2. 

XXI.  The  Shew-Bread  {Lev.  xxiv.  5-9). — This  con- 
sisted of  twelve  cakes  made  of  fine  flour,  placed  upon  the 
golden  table  within  the  Tabernacle  ;  each  cake  containing 
"  two  tenth-deals  "  of  flour,  and  if  this  means  two-tenths  of 
an  ephah,  as  is  usually  understood,  about  three-fifths  of  a 
peck  went  to  a  cake,  which  thus  would  weigh  about  six 
pounds.  The  cakes  were  placed  on  the  table  in  two  rows^ 
or  more  probably  piles  (as  the  Hebrew  word  also  means). 
Pure  frankincense  was  placed  on  each  pile,  to  be  on  the 
bread  for  a  memorial,  "an  offering  made  by  fire  unto  the 
Lord,"  implying  that  the  frankincense  was  afterwards  burnt 
on  the  golden  altar  near.  The  cakes,  supplied  by  the  people 
and  set  in  order  on  the  table  by  Aaron  every  Sabbath  day, 
were  eaten  by  him  and  his  sons  on  the  following  Sabbath  in 
the  holy  place  :  "  for  it  is  most  holy  unto  him  of  the  offerings 
of  the  Lord  made  by  fire,"  in  allusion  to  the  incense-memorial 
burnt  on  the  golden  altar.  Whether  this  bread  was  leavened 
or  unleavened,  is  not  said.  The  word  "  shew-bread,"  which 
does  not  occur  here,  but  appears  in  Exod.  xxv.  30  and  else- 


LEVITICUS  157 

where,  means  the  bread  of  presence,  namely,  God's  presence, 
as  may  be  inferred  from  the  passage  before  us,  "  set  upon 
the  table  shew-bread  before  Me  always."  Beyond  these  ex- 
pressions and  the  word  itself,  we  are  unable  to  point  to  any 
thing  in  the  Bible  which  reveals  the  divine  intention  of  the 
shew-bread.  But  these  hints,  few  as  they  are,  seem  to  convey 
a  significance  of  no  mean  value.  The  bread,  furnished  by 
the  people,  placed  them  symbolically  in  the  holy  place,  never 
in  any  other  manner  to  be  entered  by  them.  There  they  re- 
mained in  the  continual  presence  of  Him  who  was  providing 
for  them  as  well  as  for  the  priests  who  ministered  in  their 
behalf;  and  they  could  say,  " Goodness  and  mercy  shall 
follow  me  all  the  days  of  my  life,  and  I  will  dwell  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord  for  ever"  (Ps.  xxiii.  6). 

XXII.  A  Blasphemer  Stoned  {Lev.  xxiv.  10-23).— The 
son  of  an  Egyptian,  by  an  Israelitish  woman  of  the  tribe  of 
Dan  named  Shelomith,  when  striving  with  an  Israelite  in 
the  camp,  blasphemed  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  cursed. 
Brought  before  Moses,  the  offender  was  placed  in  ward  until 
the  divine  will  was  ascertained,  the  result  being  that  he  was 
conducted  without  the  camp,  where  all  who  heard  him  curse 
laid  their  hands  upon  him,  and  he  was  stoned  by  "  all  the 
congregation,"  or  the  people  generally.  On  this  occasion, 
the  law  of  death  for  blasphemy  was  enacted  (ver.  16). 

XXIII.  The  Sabbatical  Year  {Lev.  xxv.  1-7,  18-22). — 
This  institution,  of  course  impracticable  in  a  desert,  was  ex- 
pressly reserved  for  the  promised  land  (ver.  2).  The  ordinance 
was  that  during  six  years  fields  were  to  be  sown,  vineyards 
dressed,  harvests  and  fruits  gathered  ;  but  in  the  seventh 
year  all  this  was  to  cease,  and  there  was  to  be  "  a  sabbath  of 
rest  unto  the  land,  a  sabbath  for  the  Lord,"  and  whatever 
grew  spontaneously  in  the  fields  was  not  to  be  reaped  (/>., 
not  in  the  sole  interest  of  the  owner),  nor  the  grapes  of  the 
undressed  vine  gathered  {i.e.^  not  for  him  exclusively),  "for 
it  is  a  year  of  rest  unto  the  land,"  and  the  "  sabbath  of  the 
land"  (z>.,  the  spontaneous  produce  during  this  year)  was  to 


158  THE  PENTATEUCH 

be  food  for  owner,  servants,  and  resident  strangers  alike  (vers. 
1-7).  In  short  the  proprietor's  exclusive  ownership  virtually 
ceased  for  that  year  ;  cornfields  and  vineyards  were  common 
to  all.  So  also  (Exod.  xxiii.  11)  were  oliveyards.  "Ye  shall 
do  My  statutes  and  keep  My  judgments.  .  .  .  And  the  land 
shall  yield  her  fruit,  and  ye  shall  eat  your  fill  and  dwell 
therein  in  safety.  And  if  ye  shall  say,  What  shall  we  eat 
the  seventh  year  ?  Behold  we  shall  not  sow  nor  gather  in 
our  increase.  Then  I  will  command  My  blessing  upon 
you  in  the  sixth  year,  and  it  shall  bring  forth  fruit  for  three 
years.  And  ye  shall  sow  the  eighth  year,  and  eat  yet  of  old 
fruit  until  the  ninth  year  ;  until  her  fruits  come  in  ye  shall 
eat  of  the  old  store."  It  will  be  observed  here,  that  it  was 
cornland,  vineyards,  and  oliveyards  that  were  included  in 
this  rest  (Lev.  xxv.  5,  11  ;  Exod.  xxiii.  11),  Grass  land  re- 
quired no  tillage,  bore  its  usual  crop,  and  so  cattle  were  fed. 
Dates  and  other  wild  fruits,  forest  roots  and  herbs,  could  be 
gathered  as  usual.  The  corn,  the  wine,  the  olive  oil  of  the 
sixth  year,  not  to  speak  of  the  previous  ones,  could  have 
been  stored.  It  is  not  said  that  herbs  and  roots  might  not 
have  been  cultivated  in  gardens,  as  well  as  such  fruits  as 
pomegranates  and  "apples"  (z.^.,  probably  apricots).  In 
short,  it  was  the  wide  stretching  farm  lands  under  tillage, 
not  the  little  patches  about  the  house,  that  were  intended 
to  enjoy  this  sabbatical  repose  ;  and  in  times  when  rotation 
of  crops,  as  well  as  manuring,  were  never  practised,  the 
ground  would  by  this  periodical  fallowing  be  saved  from 
exhaustion  and  its  fertility  improved.  A  similar  effect,  we 
understand,  would  follow  to  the  vine  by  the  cessation  of 
one  season's  pruning.  One  thing  at  all  events  is  clear,  that 
the  people  could  have  learnt  from  this  institution  this  lesson  : 
that  the  seasons  were  under  the  providence  of  God,  and 
that  the  divine  favour  was  contingent  on  their  faithful 
obedience,  as  expressed  in  Ps.  Ixvii.  5,6:  "  Let  the  people 
praise  Thee,  O  God,  yea  let  all  the  people  praise  Thee  ;  then 
shall  the  earth  yield  her  increase."  There  is  no  historical 
instance  in  the  Old  Testament  of  the  observance  of  the 
sabbatical  year,  and  from  one  passage  (2  Chron.  xxxvi.  21) 


LEVITICUS  159 

it  must  have  fallen,  to  say  the  least,  greatly  into  neglect,  for 
the  Captivity  is  there  said  to  have  lasted  seventy  years  until 
the  land  had  made  good  her  sabbaths,  "for  as  long  as  she 
lay  desolate  she  kept  sabbath,  to  fulfil  three  score  and  ten 
years."  For  490  years,  therefore,  the  observance  of  sabbaths 
had  very  markedly  fallen  off,  but  not  necessarily  had  been 
formally  discontinued,  and  that  period  included  all  the  times 
of  the  monarchy.  Indeed  the  very  mention  of  its  omission 
as  a  neglect  of  duty  indicates  that  it  was  a  legal  institution 
all  that  time.  The  dereliction  applied  probably  to  the  whole 
sabbath  scheme,  days,  years,  jubilees,  so  far  as  agriculture 
was  concerned  ;  for  one  kind  of  sabbath  would  not  have 
been  seriously  neglected  without  producing  a  similar  dis- 
regard of  all  kinds.  After  the  Captivity  the  Jews  became 
much  more  particular  in  regard  to  all  their  ancient  institu- 
tions, sabbaths  included,  and  in  the  times  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  the  Maccabees,  and  the  first  Cc^esars,  there  is  positive 
testimony  as  to  the  observance  of  the  sabbatical  year  (i 
Mace.  vi.  49  ;  Josephus,  Ant.  xi.  8,  §  6  ;  xiv.  10,  §  6  ;  xv. 
I,  §  2). 

XXIV.  Year  of  Jubilee  (Lev.  xxv.  8-55). — This,  like 
the  Sabbatical  Year,  was  reserved  for  the  promised  land, 
and  was  impracticable  in  the  wilderness.  After  every  seven 
sabbaths  of  years,  or  seven  times  seven  years,  or  forty-nine 
years,  as  it  is  variously  expressed,  there  was  to  succeed  in 
the  fiftieth  a  Year  of  Jubilee  (Jubile,  A.V.,  R.V.),  to  com- 
mence on  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month,  the  Day  of 
Atonement,  and  to  be  signalised  by  the  sounding  of  trumpets 
throughout  the  land  (vers.  8-10).  The  year  was  charac- 
terised by  three  ordinances,  one  of  these  being  the  discon- 
tinuance of  sowing  and  reaping,  as  in  the  sabbatical  year 
(vers.  II,  12);  the  second,  the  return  of  every  man  to  his 
possession  ;  and  the  third,  of  every  man  to  his  family 
(vers.  10,  11).  In  regard  to  the  first  point,  it  is  to  be 
noticed  that  if  the  year  from  which  the  first  jubilee  was 
reckoned  corresponded  with  the  year  from  which  the  first 
sabbatical  year  counted,  that  jubilee  year  would  follow  a 


i6o  THE  PENTATEUCH 

sabbatical  year,  and  there  would  be  for  the  land  two  succes- 
sive fallow  years,  while  each  subsequent  fallow  jubilee  year 
would,  as  a  rule,  continue  to  fall  somewhere  between  two 
fallow  sabbatical  years.     This  inconvenience  suggests  that 
the  initial  jubilee  year  was  by  a  designed  calculation  made 
coincident  with  a  sabbatical  year,  every  jubilee  year  also  to 
be  counted  the  first  year  in  the  new  jubilee  cycle,  and  then 
the  coincidence  would  ever  afterwards  continue.    The  second 
characteristic  feature  of  the  jubilee  year  was  that  whoever 
had  sold  any  part  of  what  was  his  proper  family  landed 
estate,  now  retook  possession  of  it.     Property  sold  under 
this  condition  would  of  course  command  a  price  simply  in 
proportion  to  the  term  remaining  unexpired  until  the  follow- 
ing jubilee  ;  in  modern  phrase  the  land  was  leased  only, 
the  freehold  remaining  with  the  original  possessor.     A  rule 
thus  forbidding  permanent  alienation  tended  greatly  to  pre- 
vent a  confusion  of  tribes,  an  obliteration  of  families,  and 
a  loss  of  genealogies.     The  principle  on  which  the  law  was 
based  is  thus  strikingly  worded  :   "  The  land  shall  not  be 
sold  for  ever  ;  for  the  land  is  Mine,  for  ye  are  strangers  and 
sojourners  with  Me"  (ver.  23).     Another  ordinance  of  the 
jubilee  year  had  reference  to  Israelites  in  servitude.     If  one 
under  the  pressure  of  poverty  had  sold  himself  to  a  fellow- 
Israelite,  he  was  to  serve  as  an  hired  servant,  not  as  a  bond- 
slave, returning  with  his  children  in  the  year  of  jubilee  to  his 
own  family  and  to  the  possessions  of  his  fathers  ;  "  for  they  are 
My  servants,  which  I  brought  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ; 
they  shall  not  be   sold   as  bondmen"  (vers.   39-42).     The 
vford  jubilee  is  from  the  Hebrew y^<^^/,  a  loud  sound,  in  allu- 
sion to  the  publication  of  the  year  of  jubilee  by  the  sound  of 
trumpets.     The  joyful  sound  must  have  immediately  followed 
the  penitential  rites  of  the  day  of  atonement.     No  express 
instance  occurs  in  the  Bible  or  elsewhere  of  the  observance  of 
the  jubilee  year;  but  the  institution  is  distinctly  referred  to  in 
Num.  xxxvi.  4,  in  connection  with  the  daughters  of  Zelophe- 
had.    The  prophetic  language  of  Isa.  Ixi.  i,  2  is  thought  to  be 
formed  in  allusion  to  it.     That  the  Israelites  were  familiar 
with  it  in  the  time  of  Ezekiel  is  plain  from  Ezek.  xivi.  17. 


LEVITICUS  i6i 

XXV.  Promises  {Lev.  xxvi.  3-13). — The  promise  to  Israel 
was  that  in  observing  the  sabbaths  and  keeping  the  statutes 
there  would  be  this  great  reward — fruitful  seasons,  large 
crops,  peace  at  home,  victory  at  war,  an  established  worship, 
and  the  favour  of  God  ;  in  short,  their  happy  continuance 
as  a  Church  and  nation  in  this  present  world.  Entrance 
into  an  eternal  future  life  is  not  expressed,  but  substantially 
it  is  not  absent.  The  revelation  through  Moses,  that  man 
was  created  in  the  image  of  God,  followed  up  by  the  con- 
stant promise,  as  in  this  place,  that  God  interested  Himself 
in  man's  spiritual  efforts  to  walk  with  Him,  gave  ample 
assurance  that  man  was  a  spiritual  being  ;  and  if  that,  then 
an  heir,  not  of  transitory  promises  only,  but  of  a  life  that  is 
eternal.     Coming  from  God,  he  would  return  to  God. 

XXVI.  A  Summary  of  the  Israelite  Religion  {Lev. 
xxvi.  I,  2). — Here  are  three  principal  pillars  of  the  religion 
enjoined  on  Israel :  (i)  An  unseen,  unimaged,  personal  God  ; 
(2)  a  day  of  rest  ;  (3)  a  ritual  worship.  The  first  implied 
a  foundation  of  faith  for  the  whole  system.  The  worship 
of  One  Unseen  could  only  be  by  faith.  The  question  was, 
How  should  that  faith  be  declared?  Other  people  pro- 
claimed their  faith  in  God  by  images  of  Him.  Israel  was 
to  do  it  not  in  that  way,  but  by  a  stated,  public,  general 
rest  from  the  pursuits  of  secular  life,  on  the  express  ground 
of  its  being  an  image  of  God's  rest,  implying,  therefore,  that 
they  worshipped  One  who  created  the  world,  which,  and 
not  a  stone  image  cut  out  by  human  hands,  was  the  true 
sign  of  His  existence.  Faith  in  an  invisible  God  might 
easily  lapse  into  a  passive  atheism,  even  with  earth  and 
skies  around  them  ;  the  observance  of  this  weekly  rest  was 
a  perpetual  reminder  of  God,  for  the  rest  was  emphatically 
His.  The  cheerful,  punctual,  conscientious  observance  of 
the  sabbath  was  the  Israelite's  confession,  without  words, 
of  faith  in  the  unseen  Creator.  Then  lastly,  the  sanctuary 
bound  the  people's  hearts  to  God  as  the  sabbath  did  their 
minds  and  memories.  The  worship  proceeding  there  pro- 
claimed God's  purity,  their  impurity  ;  God's  provision  of  a 

s.T.  L 


i62  THE  PENTATEUCH 

redemption  from  sin  and  their  own  dire  need  of  it ;  it  de- 
clared Him  a  Saviour  and  a  Deliverer  first ;  not  a  Punisher 

until  last. 

XXVII.  Warnings  {Lev.  xxvi.  14-39). — This  address, 
if  commencing  with  the  sword,  concludes x)therwise.  Israel's 
return  in  penitence  is  contemplated,  and  the  final  words 
breathe  relenting  and  grace.  "  I  will  not  cast  them  away, 
neither  will  I  abhor  them  to  destroy  them  utterly,  and  to 
break  my  covenant  with  them  :  for  I  am  the  Lord  their  God. 
But  I  will,  for  their  sakes,  remember  the  covenant  of  their 
ancestors,  whom  I  brought  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
in  the  sight  of  the  heathen,  that  I  might  be  their  God  :  I  am 
the  Lord." 

The  gracious  promises  (vers.  3-13)  and  terrible  warnings 
(vers.  14-39)  thus  brought  before  us  were  immediately  occa- 
sioned by  the  sabbatic  ordinance,  and  are  in  close  organic 
connection  with  the  sabbatic  year  and  the  year  of  jubilee,  in 
which  all  the  sabbatic  system  culminated.  No  one  can 
possibly  miss  seeing  how  the  sabbatic  idea  runs  through  this 
whole  address.  The  predominant  thought  is  that  if  the 
sabbath  was  lost  in  Israel  all  was  lost,  and  neither  the 
sanctuary  nor  faith  in  the  invisible  Lord  could  survive. 
That  abundantly  accounts  for  the  position  occupied  by  this 
eloquent  chapter,  following  one  series  of  formal  details,  and 
immediately  followed  by  another  just  as  technical,  just  as 
dry.  No  one  with  any  insight  into  all  that  the  sabbath 
system  was  to  Israel,  the  weekly  sabbath,  the  festival 
sabbath,  the  seventh  year  sabbath,  the  jubilee  sabbath,  will 
be  surprised  at  encountering  it  where  it  stands,  or  be  un- 
prepared for  the  outburst  of  prophetic  fire  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  law-giver's  details.  In  its  sabbatic  scheme  the  whole 
Jewish  polity  as  a  theocracy  lay  hid,  and  in  the  faithful 
observance  of  it  the  nation's  welfare  was  bound  up.  The 
sabbath  was  a  sign  between  this  people  and  their  God.  The 
idea  of  giving  rest  to  men's  limbs  and  adding  fertility  to 
fields  had  its  place  of  course,  for  man's  welfare  is  never 
out  of  God's  care.    But  it  was  God's  sabbath,  and  not  man's 


LEVITICUS  163 

The  interest  which  this  one  chapter  gives  to  the  whole  Book 
of  Leviticus  can  hardly  be  overstated.  It  is  a  significant 
comment  upon  that  multitude  of  intricate  rules,  in  them- 
selves sometimes  but  little  attractive.  It  reveals  what  they 
all  mean.  They  were  deeply  based  on  the  infinite  grace  and 
tremendous  holiness  of  God.  They  were  God's  demand  on 
His  people  to  be  holy  as  their  Lord  God  was  ;  and  what  can 
surpass  the  interest  of  that? 

XXVIII.  Persons  and  Things  Devoted  (Z^^.  xxvii. 
1-29). — (i.)  Perso7is.  A  male  or  a  female  might  be  vowed 
or  devoted,  but  the  information  here  given  relates  solely  to 
the  money  price  at  which  each  might  be  redeemed,  i.e.^  the 
devotion  cancelled,  and  this  varied  according  to  age  and 
sex.  The  redemption  price  of  females  was  always  less  than 
that  of  males,  one-half,  three-fifths,  two-thirds,  according  to 
circumstances.  We  are  not  here  informed  for  what  purposes 
the  person  was  vowed,  nor  with  what  consequence  in  the 
case  of  no  redemption  being  made.  It  is  thought  probable 
that  their  liv^es  were  given  up  to  services  in  connection  with 
the  Tabernacle.  Hannah's  vow  of  her  son  Samuel  was  thus 
carried  out  (i  Sam.  i.  11,  28).  One  thus  vowed  might  after 
a  time  wish  to  terminate  the  engagement,  and  then  the 
power  of  redemption  would  apply.  (2.)  Cattle  (Lev.  xxvii. 
9-13,  26,  27).  The  animal  vowed  might  prove  unclean 
and  unsuitable  for  sacrifice.  If  after  the  vow  there  was  a 
desire  to  replace  the  faulty  animal  by  a  perfect  one,  this 
could  be  done  only  by  first  redeeming  it,  at  the  priest's 
valuation,  with  a  fifth,  or  twenty  per  cent,  extra.  The  text  is 
understood  as  implying  that  every  properly  qualified  animal 
thus  vowed  was  offered  in  sacrifice,  while  a  disqualified  one, 
if  unredeemed,  was  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  Tabernacle. 
The  first-born  of  any  animal  might  not  be  the  subject  of  a 
vow,  it  being  already  the  Lord's  (ver.  26).  (3.)  Houses  and 
land  {y^xs.  14-24).  A  house  devoted  might  be  redeemed  at 
the  priest's  valuation  and  one  fifth  extra  (vers.  14,  15).  If  a 
field,  it  was  to  be  valued  by  the  priest  up  to  the  next  jubilee, 
and  might  be  redeemed  on  a  similar  valuation  and  a  fifth  extra. 


i64  THE  PENTATEUCH 

If  not  redeemed,  it  belonged  at  the  jubilee  to  the  priest  in 
perpetuity  (vers.  16-24).  (4.)  A  Cherein  (vers.  28,  29). 
This  is  a  special  term  in  the  subject,  denoting  a  thing  that 
is  devoted  to  destruction  ;  and  what  was  vowed  under  that 
designation  was  to  be  destroyed  without  redemption.  Pre- 
sumably it  was  some  article  deemed  unfit  to  remain  in  exist- 
ence. If  a  person,  he  was  put  to  death  ;  but  it  must  be 
understood  that  he  was  a  criminal  capitally  condemned.  A 
vow  contrary  to  the  divine  law  would  be  invalid. 

XXIX.  Tithes  {Lev.  xxvii.  30-33). — The  tithe  or  tenth 
occurs  first  in  Gen.  xiv.  20,  where  Abram,  after  the  rescue 
of  Lot  and  his  goods,  gave  Melchizedek  "tithes  of  all;" 
and  next  in  Gen.  xxviii.  22,  where  Jacob  vowed  to  God  a 
tenth  of  all  that  God  should  give  him.  In  this  passage  of 
Leviticus  tithes  are  first  sulbjected  to  legal  regulation. 
Things  to  be  tithed  were  crops  raised  from  seed,  the  fruit  of 
trees,  the  increase  of  herds  and  flocks,  "even  whatsoever 
passeth  under  the  rod,"  i.e.^  the  shepherd's  rod,  or  his  care 
symbolised  by  his  rod  (Ps.  xxiii.  4;  Jer.  xxxiii.  13;  Micah 
vii.  14).  This  tenth  was  "the  Lord's,"  and  "holy  unto  the 
Lord."  It  was  redeemable  by  the  payment  of  its  estimated 
value,  with  the  addition  of  one-fifth. 


NUMBERS 


I.  The  Title. — This  section  of  that  one  continuous  work, 
called  by  the  ancient  Jews,  Torah^  the  Larv^  was  headed  by 
them  Vayedabber,  this  being  the  first  word  in  it,  meaning 
And  he  spake.  The  present  Hebrew  Bible,  instead  of  that 
heading,  has  Bemidbar,  the  fourth  word  in  the  text,  meaning 
In  the  wilderness  ;  and  this,  whether  intentionally  or  not, 
declares  in  the  happiest  manner  the  subject  of  the  section. 
The  Greek  Septuagint  version  gives  the  descriptive  title 
'Api^/xot,  i.e.  fiumbers^  but  this  is  a  very  partial  and  in- 
adequate title.  The  Latin  Vulgate  version,  imitating  the 
Septuagint,  heads  the  section  Liber  Numeri,  i.e.,  Book 
Ninnbers,  and  thus  makes  it  a  separate  book,  as  does  the 
English  version,  with  increased  emphasis,  The  Fourth  Book 
of  Moses,  called  Numbers.  Its  narrative  begins  with  the 
numbering  of  the  people  fit  for  war  at  Sinai,  on  the  first  day 
of  the  second  month,  in  the  second  year  after  their  leaving 
Egypt,  and  it  ends  with  their  arrival,  after  about  thirty-eight 
years  of  wandering  in  the  wilderness,  on  the  plains  of  Moab 
at  the  river  Jordan  and  the  border  of  Canaan  opposite  the 
town  of  Jericho. 

II.  Moses  divinely  Instructed  {Num.  i.  i). — "And 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai  in 
the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  in  the  first  day  of  the 
second  month,  in  the  second  year  after  they  were  come  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt."  The  Book  of  Numbers,  which  opens 
with  these  words,  ends  thus  :  "  These  are  the  command- 
ments and  the  judgments  which  the  Lord  commanded,  by 

i6s 


1 66  THE  PENTATEUCH 

the  hand  of  Moses,  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  in  the  plains 
of  Moab,  by  Jordan  near  Jericho." 

III.  The  People  Numbered  (Num.  i.  2-54). — This  was 
a  military  census,  including  men  only,  namely,  those  twenty 
years  old  and  upwards,  fit  for  war.  In  this  measure  Moses 
was  assisted  by  Aaron  and  a  leading  man  from  each  tribe. 
The  men  that  were  numbered  "declared  their  pedigrees 
after  their  families,  by  the  house  of  their  fathers,"  thus 
guaranteeing  their  being  true  members  of  the  tribe  to  which 
they  were  reckoned.  The  entire  body  numbered  603,550. 
By  that  tribal  formation,  based  on  pedigrees  preserved  and 
examined,  by  that  numbering  for  war,  immediately  after  the 
delivery  of  the  rules  of  the  sanctuary,  Israel  must  have 
been  reminded  that  they  were  no  unorganised  rabble,  but 
a  disciplined  and  ordered,  as  well  as  a  religious  nation,  with 
a  strong  family  spirit  pervading  the  whole  body,  ever  kept 
looking  back  to  their  patriarchal  ancestors,  and  to  God's 
covenant  with  them  through  Abraham.  Realising  that,  they 
would  war  a  good  warfare. 

IV.  The  Encampment  {Njim.  i.  50-53  ;  ii.).  The  tents  of 
the  Levites,  in  whose  exclusive  charge  was  the  entire  Taber- 
nacle, which  they  took  down,  portered,  and  set  up,  were 
pitched  immediately  about  the  sacred  enclosure.  Further 
off  were  the  twelve  camps,  in  four  groups,  each  group  con- 
sisting of  three  tribes.  Of  the  three  tribes  one  was  leader, 
to  whose  standard  the  other  two  were  subject.  The  rule  by 
which  the  four  groups  always  knew  their  places  on  a  halt, 
shows  that  the  Tabernacle  was  invariably  erected  with  its 
four  sides  facing  the  cardinal  points,  the  front  being  east- 
ward (Num.  iii.  23,  38),  The  three  eastern  tribes,  under 
the  standard  of  Judah,  were  Judah,  Issachar,  Zebulon. 
The  three  southern,  under  the  standard  of  Reuben,  were 
Reuben,  Simeon,  Gad.  The  western  group,  under  the 
standard  of  Ephraim,  included  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  Ben- 
jamin. The  northern,  under  the  standard  of  Dan,  consisted 
of  Dan,  Asher,  Naphtali.     Such  an  arrangement,  the  hosts 


NUMBERS  167 

of  Israel  surrounding  their  sanctuary,  was  indeed  a  speak- 
ing one.  The  Israelities  had  their  religion  in  the  very  mid- 
point of  their  system.  It  was  their  centre  of  unity,  their 
seat  of  life.  The  central  object  of  the  sanctuary  was  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant ;  the  treasure  of  the  Ark  was  the  Law 
of  the  Covenant,  the  pledge  of  their  continued  existence  as 
a  nation.  Their  hosts  were  therefore  bound  to  defend  it  at 
all  hazards,  as  their  priceless  possession,  as  a  man  would 
protect  his  heart. 

V.  The  Levites  {Num.  iii.). — The  Levites,  descendants 
of  Levi,  one  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  ranked  in  three  lines, 
which  sprang  from  Levi's  three  sons,  Gershon,  Kohath, 
Merari  (Num.  xxvi.  57,  58).  Kohath  was  the  father  of 
Amram,  whose  children  were  Moses,  Aaron,  and  Miriam. 
Tribally  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  Levites,  but  by  special 
office  they  were  priests.  All  other  male  Levites  were  minis- 
ters of  the  Tabernacle  of  an  inferior  grade,  assistants  to 
the  priests,  and  the  term  "Levite"  often  denoted  this  office 
only.  Moses  was  not  in  this  sense  a  "  Levite,"  ranking 
officially  even  above  Aaron.  The  divine  injunctions  as  to 
the  official  duties  of  the  Levites  are  laid  down  in  vers.  6-9. 
The  Gershonites  encamped  behind  the  Tabernacle  west- 
wards, and  had  charge  of  the  coverings,  hangings  and  cur- 
tains. The  Kohathites  camped  on  the  south  side,  having 
charge  of  the  Ark,  the  Table,  the  Candlestick,  the  Altars, 
the  vessels  of  the  sanctuary,  and  the  "hanging,"  which 
here  must  mean  the  veil.  The  Merarites  were  placed  on 
the  north  side,  and  were  responsible  for  the  boards,  pillars^ 
sockets,  pins,  and  cords.  Thus  the  Levites  surrounded  the 
Tabernacle  on  its  two  long  sides  and  at  the  rear  end.  But 
those  who  encamped  before  the  Tabernacle  eastward  were 
Moses,  Aaron,  and  Aaron's  sons,  "keeping  the  charge  of  the 
sanctuary,  for  the  charge  of  the  children  of  Israel  ;  and  the 
stranger  that  cometh  nigh  shall  be  put  to  death  "  (ver.  39). 

VI.  How  THE  Tabernacle  was  to  be  Removed 
(JVum.  iv.). — The   following   rule   was   laid   down.      Aaron 


1 68  THE  PENTATEUCH 

and  his  sons  were  first  to  enter  and  take  down  the  veil, 
with  which  they  covered  the  Ark.  They  then  wrapped  it 
in  two  other  coverlets  and  put  in  staves  for  carrying  it. 
The  Table  and  its  implements  were  also  well  covered  up 
and  enstaved,  as  was  the  golden  Altar.  The  Candlestick, 
carefully  wrapped,  was  placed  upon  a  bar  by  which  it  was 
to  be  carried,  and  similarly  all  other  articles  employed  in 
the  Tabernacle.  The  brazen  Altar  was  likewise  covered  up. 
This  done,  and  the  sacred  tent  entirely  dismantled,  all  the 
able-bodied  Kohathite  Levites,  between  the  ages  of  thirty 
and  fifty,  entered  and  took  charge  of  the  entire  contents 
thus  prepared  for  removal,  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  priest  Eleazar,  into  whose  special  and  personal  care 
were  delivered  the  oil  for  the  lights,  the  incense,  and 
the  anointing  oil.  The  curtains  and  hangings,  properly 
enveloped,  and  packed  (we  may  suppose)  in  convenient 
burdens,  were  placed  in  charge  of  the  able-bodied  Ger- 
shonites,  who  presumably  took  down  and  packed  up  for 
themselves.  This  body  was  under  the  command  of  the 
priest  Ithamar,  as  were  also  the  Merarites,  who  took  in 
hand  the  timber  framework  of  the  Tabernacle  and  that 
of  the  boundary  wall,  with  the  sockets,  pins,  cords,  and 
etceteras.  All  was  then  ready  for  the  march,  the  order  of 
which  will  come  before  us  later  on. 

VII.  Restitution  in  Trespass  {Nutn.  v.  5-10). — Any 
one  led  by  conscience  to  confess  a  sin  of  trespass  (here  to 
be  understood  as  one  of  fraud)  was  to  recompense  the 
injured  party  with  the  full  value  and  a  fifth  extra,  besides 
making  an  offering  to  the  Lord,  against  whom  essentially 
the  sin  was  committed. 

VIII.  The  Nazarite  {Nimi.  vi.  1-2 1).— The  word 
(Nazirite,  R.V.)  means  one  set  apart.  The  Nazirite  was  a 
man  (or  woman)  separated  unto  the  Lord  for  some  period  of 
time.  All  the  days  of  his  separation  he  was  holy  unto  the 
Lord.  During  that  time  his  hair  was  to  grow  and  he  was  to 
abstain  from  wine.     He  was  also  to  refrain  from  touching 


NUMBERS  169 

the  dead,  were  it  even  father,  mother,  brother,  or  sister. 
The  particular  purpose  of  this  ordinance  is  not  stated.  Per- 
haps the  rites  observ-ed  at  the  termination  of  the  vow  may 
convey  a  hint.  All  the  round  of  offerings,  except  the 
trespass,  were  offered,  first  the  sin,  then  the  burnt,  with  its 
meat  and  its  drink-offerings,  then  the  peace.  The  long 
hair  was  cut  off  and  burnt  in  the  fire  of  the  peace-offering. 
Thus  the  vow  of  the  Nazirite  had  consecrated  him  to  God 
and  brought  him  as  one  of  the  people  to  the  altar  "with  the 
consecration  of  his  God  upon  his  head"  (v.  7),  and  he  was 
all  the  days  of  his  separation  "holy  unto  the  Lord"  (v.  8). 
In  other  words,  he  was  as  near  to  God  as  the  high  priest 
himself  Yet  the  very  first  thing  he  had  to  do  at  the  end  of 
his  vow  was  to  offer  a  sin-offering  before  he  might  offer  his 
burnt  or  his  peace-offering ;  as  much  as  to  confess  that  his  very 
holiness  needed  atonement,  he  being  still  a  sinner,  just  as 
the  high  priest,  just  as  the  leper.  He  had  no  holiness  in 
himself,  let  him  be  as  strict  as  possible  ;  and  that  was  the 
constant  lesson  of  the  Tabernacle  ritual.  It  is  impossible  to 
suppose  the  end  and  object  of  the  vow  to  have  been  the 
wearing  of  long  hair  and  the  abstention  from  wine.  These 
things  would  be  merely  the  public  signs  and  tokens  of  the 
vow,  the  vow  which  pledged  him  to  special  consecration  of 
heart  and  life  to  God  and  duty,  to  prayer  and  to  acts  of 
charity. 

IX.  The  Blessing  of  God  on  Israel  (Nwn.  vi. 
22-27). — The  following  form  of  blessing  to  be  pronounced 
on  the  people  by  Aaron  and  his  sons,  probably  at  the  con- 
clusion of  every  service  of  the  Tabernacle  and  on  other 
solemn  occasions,  was  dictated  by  God  :  "  The  Lord  bless 
thee  and  keep  thee  ;  the  Lord  make  His  face  shine  upon 
thee,  and  be  gracious  unto  thee  ;  the  Lord  lift  up  His 
countenance  upon  thee,  and  give  thee  peace."  God  was 
said  thus  to  put  His  name  upon  the  children  of  Israel. 

X.  Offerings  for  the  Altar  (Ntan.  vii.  10-88). — 
When   the  Altar  was  dedicated  each  of  the  twelve  tribes, 


I70  THE  PENTATEUCH 

through  its  leader  or  prince,  beginning  with  Judah  and  end- 
ing with  Naphtali,  in  the  order  of  the  camps,  and  on  suc- 
cessive days,  ofifered  as  follows  :  A  silver  charger  weighing 
130  shekels  ;  a  silver  bowl,  thirty  shekels,  both  full  of  fine 
flour  mingled  with  oil  for  a  meat-offering  ;  a  golden  spoon  of 
ten  shekels  full  of  incense  ;  a  young  bullock,  a  ram,  a  lamb, 
for  a  burnt-offering  ;  a  kid  for  a  sin-offering  ;  two  oxen,  five 
rams,  five  he-goats,  five  lambs,  for  peace-offerings. 


XI.  How  THE  Divine  Commands  were  Communi- 
cated TO  Moses  {Num.  vii.  89). — "  And  when  Moses  was 
gone  into  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation  to  speak  with 
Him,  then  he  heard  the  voice  of  one  speaking  unto  him 
from  off  the  mercy-seat  that  was  upon  the  ark  of  the  testi- 
mony from  between  the  two  cherubims  ;  and  he  spake  unto 
Him." 


Xn.  The  Levites  Consecrated  {Num.  viii.  5-22).— 
The  Levites  were  regarded  as  Israel's  offering  to  God,  by 
His  permission,  in  lieu  of  the  first-born  claimed  by  Him  from 
Israel  when  the  first-born  of  Egypt  were  destroyed.  In  His 
turn  God  bestowed  them  as  a  gift  upon  Aaron  and  the 
priesthood,  to  assist  in  the  service  of  the  Tabernacle.  This 
principle  determined  some  of  the  ritual  observed  at  their 
consecration.  No  prescribed  dress  is  mentioned  for  them, 
and  no  anointing.  Water  of  purifying  was  sprinkled  upon 
them  ;  they  were  shaved,  and  their  clothes  washed.  A 
body  of  them  were  brought  before  the  Tabernacle,  where  the 
people  who  had  assembled  laid  their  hands  upon  them,  and 
they  were  offered  to  the  Lord  for  an  offering  of  the  children 
of  Israel.  Thus  they  were  offered  with  the  ceremony  of  the 
imposition  of  hands,  like  as  when  an  animal  victim  was 
brought  to  the  altar.  But  they  were  offered  to  "execute 
the  service  of  the  Lord."  In  their  turn  the  Levites  laid 
their  hands  upon  a  sin-offering  and  a  burnt-offering,  which 
were  then  offered  "  to  make  an  atonement  for  the  Levites." 
Aaron  and  his  sons  presided  at  these  ceremonies. 


NUMBERS  171 

XIII.  The  Passover  at  Sinai  {Num.  \x.  1-5).— On  the 
fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month  at  even,  in  the  second 
year  after  they  had  come  out  of  Egypt,  the  Israelites  kept 
the  Passover  at  Sinai,  according  to  the  divine  command 
communicated  to  Moses  in  the  same  month.  This  is  the 
earliest  dated  event  in  Numbers,  it  being  prior  to  the  com- 
mand to  number  the  people  delivered  on  the  first  day  of 
the  second  month.  This  Passover  was  the  only  one  known 
to  have  been  kept  in  the  wilderness,  and  it  was  observed 
with  all  its  proper  rites. 

XIV.  The  Cloud  and  the  Fire  {Num.  ix.  15-23). — 
On  the  day  that  the  Tabernacle  was  reared  up  the  cloud 
covered  it,  and  at  even  there  was  upon  the  Tabernacle  as  it 
were  the  appearance  of  fire  until  the  morning.  So  it  was 
alway  :  the  cloud  covered  it  by  day  and  the  appearance  of 
fire  by  night.  And  when  the  cloud  was  taken  up  from  the 
Tabernacle,  then  after  that  the  children  of  Israel  journeyed  ; 
and  in  the  place  where  the  cloud  abode,  there  the  children 
of  Israel  pitched  their  tents. 

XV.  The  Silver  Trumpets  (A^/^;«.  x.  i-io).— "The  Lord 
spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Make  thee  two  trumpets  of  silver  ; 
of  a  whole  piece  shalt  thou  make  them,  that  thou  mayest 
use  them  for  the  calling  of  the  assembly,  and  for  the  journey^ 
ing  of  the  camps.  And  when  they  shall  blow  with  them^ 
all  the  assembly  shall  assemble  themselves  to  thee  at  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  And  if  they 
blow  but  with  one  trumpet,  then  the  princes,  which  are 
heads  of  the  thousands  of  Israel,  shall  gather  themselves 
unto  thee.  When  ye  blow  an  alarm,  then  the  camps  that 
lie  on  the  east  parts  shall  go  forward.  When  ye  blow  an 
alarm  a  second  time,  then  the  camps  that  lie  on  the  south 
side  shall  take  their  journey  :  they  shall  blow  an  alarm 
for  their  journeys.  But  when  the  congregation  is  to  be 
gathered  together,  ye  shall  blow,  but  ye  shall  not  sound 
an  alarm.  And  the  sons  of  Aaron,  the  priests,  shall  blow 
with  the  trumpets  ;  and  they  shall  be  to  you  for  an  ordinance 


172  THE  PENTATEUCH 

for  ever  throughout  your  generations.  And  if  ye  go  to  war 
in  your  land  against  the  enemy  that  oppresseth  you,  then 
ye  shall  blow  an  alarm  with  the  trumpets ;  and  ye  shall  be 
remembered  before  the  Lord  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be 
saved  from  your  enemies.  Also  in  the  day  of  your  glad- 
ness, and  in  your  solemn  days,  and  in  the  beginnings  of 
your  months,  ye  shall  blow  with  the  trumpets  over  your 
burnt-offerings,  and  over  the  sacrifices  of  your  peace-offer- 
ings, that  they  may  be  to  you  for  a  memorial  before  your 
God  :  I  am  the  Lord  your  God.  " 

XVI.  The  Departure  from  Sinai  {Nwn.  x.  11-13). — 
Paran  is  considered  as  being  the  tract  of  country  stretch- 
ing northwards  from  Sinai  to  the  border  of  Canaan,  mainly, 
therefore,  the  region  now  known  by  the  Arabic  name  Et 
Tih^  i.e.^  "  The  Wandering."  Et  Tih  is  an  elevated  limestone 
plateau,  to  be  reached  from  the  foot  of  Sinai  by  a  multitude 
encumbered  with  baggage  only  at  a  spot  where  the  plateau 
gradually  lowers,  allowing  an  easy  ascent,  and  that  is  near 
Eziongeber,  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Akaba,  the  eastern 
arm  of  the  Red  Sea.  It  is  there  that  the  pilgrim  caravans 
from  Cairo,  after  crossing  Et  Tih  from  west  to  east,  make 
their  descent  in  order  to  reach  Mecca ;  and  it  is  there  that 
they  ascend  on  their  return.  To  reach  that  place  the  Israelite 
host  had  to  journey  in  a  north-easterly  direction  after  quitting 
Sinai.  To  that  quarter  the  Israelites  now  direct  their  march, 
taking  with  them  the  Law  and  the  Worship  that  was  to  be 
established  in  Canaan. 

XVII.  Order  of  the  March  {Num.  x.  14-28). — The 
van  was  led  by  the  three  tribes  which  camped  at  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Tabernacle,  Judah,  Issachar,  Zebulon,  all  under 
the  standard  of  Judah.  Then  followed  the  Gershonite  Levites 
conveying  the  framework  of  the  Tabernacle,  having  to  assist 
them  two  waggons  each  drawn  by  two  oxen  (Num.  vii.  7). 
After  these  came  the  Merarites,  in  charge  of  the  hangings, 
with  four  waggons  to  help  them.  These  two  bodies  were 
under  the  command  of  Ithamar  the  priest.     Next  marched 


NUMBERS  173 

the  three  tribes  that  camped  on  the  south  of  the  Tabernacle, 
Reuben,  Simeon,  Gad,  under  the  standard  of  Reuben.  Next 
marched  the  Kohathites,  bearing,  by  staves  resting  on  their 
shoulders,  entirely  without  waggons,  and  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  priest  Eleazar,  the  furniture  of  the  sanctuary, 
to  find,  on  reaching  their  brother  Levites  in  front  of  them, 
the  Tabernacle  erected  for  its  reception.  Then  set  forward 
the  three  western  tribes,  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  Benjamin, 
under  the  standard  of  Ephraim  ;  and  the  rear  was  brought 
up  by  the  northern  tribes,  Dan,  Asher,  Naphtali,  under  the 
standard  of  Dan. 

XVIII.  HOBAB  Invited  {Num.  x.  29-32). — For  the  re- 
lation of  Moses  to  Hobab,  see  Exod.  ii.  15  and  supra^  p.  ZZ. 

XIX.  The  Ark  Going  Before  {Ntwi.  x.  33-36). — 
During  the  march,  as  we  gather  from  this  passage,  the  ark, 
instead  of  accompanying  the  rest  of  the  furniture  of  the 
sanctuary,  was  carried  in  front  of  the  host,  leading  the  w'ay, 
as  when  afterwards  it  crossed  the  Jordan.  Moses,  Aaron,  and 
a  company  of  priests  would  be  with  it.  A  cloud-like  appear- 
ance, hovering  over,  indicated  by  its  movement  the  direction 
it  was  to  take.  At  night  there  would  have  been  simply  a 
bivouac,  and  at  the  end  of  the  stage,  where  there  was  to  be 
a  pause  of  any  length,  the  Tabernacle  was  re-erected.  The 
first  proper  halt  occurred  at  the  end  of  a  three  days'  march. 

XX.  Taberah,  Kibroth-hattaavah,  Hazeroth  {Nwn. 
xi.  1-35). — In  the  first  halt  the  people  gave  way  to  un- 
reasonable complaints,  but  the  particular  grievance  is  not 
stated.  A  consuming  fire  sent  among  them  indicated  the 
divine  displeasure,  but  at  the  intercession  of  Moses  it  was 
quenched,  and  he  called  the  place  Taberah^  i.e.^  "  burning " 
(vers.  1-3).  Its  situation  is  not  now  known,  but  from  the 
sequel  it  was  certainly  eastward  or  north-eastward  of  Sinai, 
in  the  direction  of  the  eastern  ami  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  Gulf 
of  Akaba.  At  the  next  halt  a  discontented  spirit  again 
showed  itself,  at  first  among  the  mixed  multitude,  from  whom 


174  THE  PENTATEUCH 

it  spread  to  the  Israelites.  They  pined  for  the  fish  and 
the  vegetables  so  abundant  in  Egypt,  despising  the  manna 
sent  them  miraculously.  This  food  resembled  a  cereal  grain, 
and  falling  nightly  upon  the  ground  along  with  the  dew  was 
gathered  in  the  morning,  pounded,  and  made  into  flat  cakes, 
which  were  baked  in  pans  (vers.  4-9).  Vexed  at  the  people's 
murmurs  and  feeling  his  burden  as  leader  beyond  his  strength, 
Moses  himself  gave  way  to  complaints,  and  God  directed 
him  to  bring  to  the  Tabernacle  seventy  of  the  elders  of  Israel, 
who  should  share  the  toil  with  him.  As  to  flesh,  which  the 
people  demanded,  they  should  have  it  for  all  the  next  month 
until  they  were  as  weary  of  that  as  of  the  manna  (vers.  10-23). 
The  seventy  elders,  all  but  two,  were  brought  to  the  Taber- 
nacle ;  and  God  took  of  the  Spirit  that  was  upon  Moses  and 
gave  it  unto  the  seventy,  and  they  prophesied.  In  short,  the 
inspiration  of  Moses  was  imparted  to  them,  and  of  this  they 
gave  proof  by  an  elevated  strain  of  utterance  which  was 
beyond  the  reach  of  others.  It  indicated  to  all  who  heard 
that  the  seventy  were  divinely  appointed  as  coadjutors  of 
Moses  (vers.  24,  25).  For  some  reason  not  stated,  two  of 
the  selected  seventy,  Eldad  and  Medad,  did  not  appear 
among  their  brethren  at  the  Tabernacle,  but  remained  in  the 
camp,  where  nevertheless  they  were  endued  with  the  same 
prophesying  gift.  Whatever  was  the  reason  of  their  non- 
appearance at  the  Tabernacle,  they  were  not  rejected  by  God  ; 
and  the  incident,  whether  so  intended  or  not,  had  this  good 
result,  that  whereas  the  sixty-eight  prophesied  before  Moses, 
the  priests,  and  other  heads,  the  two  prophesied  before  the 
people,  who  were  thus  convinced  of  their  divine  call.  A  deep 
impression  was  instantly  created  in  the  camp,  and  a  young 
man  ran  to  the  Tabernacle  to  report  the  prophesying  to 
Moses.  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun  heard  the  announce- 
ment with  indignation,  and  imagining  that  the  two  absent 
brethren  were  presuming  to  act  independently  and  so 
were  encroaching  on  the  supreme  authority  of  his  master, 
exclaimed,  "  My  lord  Moses,  forbid  them  ! "  Moses  replied, 
"  Enviest  thou  for  my  sake  ?  Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's 
people  were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put   His 


NUMBERS  175 

Spirit  upon  them."  The  Hebrew  words,  which  we  render 
prophet^  prophecy^  denote  generally  a  speaker  and  a  speaking 
by  divine  inspiration,  and  not  only  a  foreteller  and  a  fore- 
telling of  future  events.  Then  went  Moses  and  the  inspired 
elders  into  the  camp,  and  the  divine  word  as  to  flesh  for 
food  was  fulfilled.  By  a  wind  from  the  sea  flights  of  quails 
(as  our  versions  call  these  wild-fowl)  were  borne  towards  the 
camp  and  descending  within  two  cubits  of  the  ground  were 
easily  taken,  as  the  sense  of  the  passage  seems  to  be  (see 
R.V.).  Greedily  the  people  went  out  to  possess  themselves 
of  the  prey ;  but  no  sooner  did  the  meal  begin  than  the 
Lord  in  His  anger  smote  the  people  with  a  very  great  plague, 
and  Moses  called  the  place  Kibroth-hattaavah^  "  the  graves 
of  lust,"  because  there  they  buried  the  people  that  lusted. 
The  spot  was  believed  by  Professor  Palmer  to  be  identical 
with  that  now  called  Eriveis  el  Ebeirig^  twenty-eight  miles 
north-east  from  Sinai  and  twenty  from  the  eastern  gulf  of 
the  Red  Sea,  having  the  remains  of  a  large  encampment, 
proved  to  be  of  great  antiquity  by  its  differing  essentially 
from  any  others  to  be  seen  in  Sinai  and  Arabia.  Travellers, 
as  noticed  by  Dean  Stanley,  have  observed  vast  flocks  of 
birds  (but  they  were  cranes)  coming  from  the  sea  and 
alighting  there.  That  Kibroth-hattaavah  was  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  sea  is  plainly  hinted  in  the  narrative  by  the 
expression,  "  a  wind  from  the  sea."  The  halt  here  appears 
to  have  lasted  about  a  month  (vers.  30-34).  The  next 
station  which  the  Israelites  made  their  abode  was  Hazeroth. 
It  is  identified  by  Professor  Palmer  and  others  with  a  place 
bearing  the  Arabic  name  of  Huderah^  and  meaning,  like  the 
Hebrew  Hazeroth^  "  enclosures."  Its  situation  is  twelve  miles 
north-east  from  Erweis  el  Ebeirig,  about  forty  from  Sinai, 
and  twelve  or  thirteen  from  the  sea,  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tainous fringe  of  the  elevated  desert  of  Et  Tih.  Accord- 
ing to  every  means  we  possess  of  discovering,  the  Israelites 
are  marching  towards  that  corner  we  have  indicated,  where 
Eziongeber  stands  at  the  head  of  the  gulf  of  Akaba,  and 
where  the  pilgrim  road  from  Mecca  begins  to  ascend  to  the 
limestone  plateau.     Their  possessing  waggons  is  a  fact  not 


176  THE  PENTATEUCH 

lost  sight  of  by  explorers  seeking  to  determine  the  actual 
roads. 

XXI.  Miriam  and  Aaron  assert  Themselves 
AGAINST  Moses  {Num.  xii.  1-15). — This  occurred  at 
Hazeroth,  where  Miriam  and  Aaron  spoke  against  Moses 
on  account  of  the  Ethiopian  woman  whom  he  had  married. 
They  demanded,  "  Hath  the  Lord  indeed  spoken  only  by 
Moses?  Hath  He  not  spoken  also  by  us  ?"  The  voice  of 
God  summoned  them  to  the  Tabernacle,  and  said,  "  Hear 
now  My  words.  If  there  be  a  prophet  among  you,  I  the 
Lord  will  make  Myself  known  unto  him  in  a  vision,  and 
will  speak  unto  him  in  a  dream  ; "  as  much  as  to  say  they 
misunderstood  the  position  of  Moses  entirely  ;  he  was  no 
ordinary  prophet  instructed  in  nightly  visions  ;  he  was  one 
whose  place  was  very  near  to  God,  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  equal ;  one  audibly  addressed  by  God,  their  mediator 
and  the  head  of  that  dispensation  :  "  My  servant  Moses  is 
not  so,  who  is  faithful  in  all  Mine  house.  With  him  I  will 
speak  mouth  to  mouth,  even  apparently  and  not  in  dark 
speeches,  and  the  similitude  of  the  Lord  shall  he  behold. 
Wherefore  then  were  ye  not  afraid  to  speak  against  My 
servant  Moses?"  The  departure  of  the  cloud  from  off  the 
Tabernacle,  and  Miriam  becoming  leprous,  indicated  the 
divine  displeasure.  Aaron  humbly  apologised  to  Moses  for 
his  and  his  sister's  folly,  and  on  the  intercession  of  Moses 
the  offence  was  forgiven,  Miriam's  leprosy  and  exclusion 
from  the  camp  lasting  only  seven  days.  The  lesson  of  the 
incident  was  that  Miriam  and  Aaron  might  be  employed  in 
prophetic  utterances,  as  when  Aaron  was  appointed  to  speak 
before  Pharaoh  jointly  with  Moses,  "  I  will  be  with  thy 
mouth  and  with  his  mouth"  (Ex.  iv.  15),  and  "  Miriam  the 
prophetess  "  took  the  timbrel  at  the  head  of  the  women  and 
sang  to  the  Lord  after  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  (Ex.  xv. 
20)  ;  but  the  authority  of  Moses  was  unique  and  could  be 
shared  with  no  other.  Moses  being  allowed  to  behold  the 
similitude  of  God  must  refer  to  such  visions  as  Ex.  xxxiii. 
18-33  J  ^ot  God  Himself,  but  visible  tokens  of  His  presence. 


NUMBERS  177 

The  leprosy  of  Miriam  indicates  that  the  halt  at  Hazeroth 
lasted  seven  days  at  least. 

XXII.  Arrival  at  Kadesh-barnea  (Num.  xii.  16). — 
"And  afterwards  the  people  removed  from  Hazeroth,  and 
pitched  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran."  It  was  said  further 
back,  on  their  breaking  up  from  Sinai  (Num.  x.  12),  that 
"  the  cloud  rested  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran  ; "  which  we 
understand  to  mean,  that  the  journey  was  to  be  directed 
towards  that  elevated  region  already  spoken  of,  known  in 
modern  geography  as  Et  Tih.  This  they  have  now  reached 
from  Hazeroth,  by  a  north-eastward  march  towards  the  head 
of  the  Gulf  of  Akaba,  and  there  ascending  by  what  is  now 
the  pilgrim  road  between  Mecca  and  Cairo.  The  plateau 
gained,  their  next  object  was  to  reach  the  southern  border 
of  Canaan,  by  a  route  more  or  less  northward  ;  and  the 
particular  part  of  the  wilderness  of  Paran  in  which  they 
established  themselves,  was  that  limited  portion  of  it  called 
the  wilderness  of  Zin  ;  within  which  again  was  the  still 
smaller  wilderness  of  Kadesh,  so  named  from  a  spot  in  it 
called  Kadesh-barnea.  Here  and  all  about  the  Israelite 
host  sojourned  a  long  time,  covering  a  large  tract,  and  the 
sacred  narrative  calls  the  locality  by  the  various  names  we 
have  mentioned  without  very  much  discrimination. 

The  grand  difficulty  of  geographers  has  been  to  settle  the 
position  of  Kadesh-barnea,  the  key  to  very  much  of  the 
Bible  narrative,  and  it  has  been  reserved  for  recent  years  to 
identify  the  spot  with  a  certainty  that  seems  scarcely  open 
to  doubt.  A  place  bearing  almost  the  very  name  {A in 
Gadis,  "  spring  of  Gadis  "),  was  first  discovered  by  an  Eng- 
lishman, the  Rev.  John  Rowlands,  in  1842,  and  after  a 
long  oblivion  following  upon  his  death,  rediscovered  by  an 
American,  Dr.  Trumbull,  whose  volume,  entitled  "  Kadesh- 
barnea,"  published  in  1884,  giving  full  particulars,  is  one  of 
striking  interest.  Why  the  spot  should  have  been  so  long 
unknown,  and  when  lost  so  difficult  to  reach  a  second  time, 
is  that,  being  a  luxuriant  oasis  of  the  desert,  it  was  most 
jealously  guarded  and  concealed,  by  the  fiercest  of  all  the 

s.  T,  M 


NUMBERS  179 

Arab  tribes,  the  Azazimehs.  It  lay  aside  from  all  the  usual 
routes,  and  the  guides,  knowing  the  risk  they  ran  in  leading 
travellers  to  it,  never  spoke  of  it,  and  if  asked,  professed 
absolute  ignorance.  A  spring  bursting  from  a  rock  in  a 
recess  reached  by  an  unsuspected  sudden  turning  among 
the  cliffs,  a  paradise  of  delightful  greensward,  fruit-trees, 
and  game,  and  outside  this  a  wide  expanse  shut  in  by  hills, 
and  called  Wady  Gadis,  producing  crops  in  their  seasons, 
and  having  narrow  outlets  to  the  wilderness  world  around, 
make  up  the  description  of  this  happy  discovery.  The 
large  isolated  tract  occupied  by  those  Azazimeh  Arabs  may 
be  considered  as  generally  representing  the  wilderness  of 
Zin  ;  the  Wady  Gadis,  the  wilderness  of  Kadesh  ;  and  like- 
wise Kadesh-barnea.  Measured  on  the  map,  Ain  Gadis  is 
about  forty-seven  miles  due  south  of  Beersheba,  fifty-six 
south-west  from  the  Dead  Sea. 

XXIII.  The  Mission  of  the  Spies  {Num.  xiii.). — By 
the  command  of  God,  and  as  stated  in  Deut.  i.  20,  on  the 
proposal  of  the  people  themselves  originally,  Moses  sent 
forth  twelve  leading  men,  one  of  each  tribe,  to  search  the 
land  of  Canaan.  Judah  was  represented  by  Caleb,  Ephraim 
by  Oshea  or  Hoshea,  a  name  meaning  Salvation^  and  now, 
by  the  prefix  Je  standing  for  Jehovah,  changed  to  Jehoshua 
or  Joshua,  denoting  Jehovah's  salvation.  Their  instructions 
were  to  penetrate  to  the  farthest  north  :  "  See  the  land, 
what  it  is,  and  the  people  that  dwelleth  therein,  whether 
they  be  strong  or  weak,  few  or  many  ;  and  what  the  land  is 
that  they  dwell  in,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad  ;  and  what 
cities  they  be  that  they  dwell  in,  whether  in  tents  or  in 
strong-holds  ;  and  what  the  land  is,  whether  it  be  fat  or 
lean,  whether  there  be  wood  therein  or  not.  And  be  ye  of 
good  courage,  and  bring  of  the  fruit  of  the  land."  The 
season  was  that  of  the  first  ripe  grapes,  which  would  be 
in  or  about  August.  So  the  twelve  explorers  went  forth 
from  the  wilderness  of  Paran  (Num.  xiii.  3),  from  the  wilder- 
ness of  Zin  (ver.  21)  ;  and  after  an  absence  of  forty  days 
they  returned  to  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  to  Kadesh  (ver. 


i8o  THE  PENTATEUCH 

26),  or  Kadesh-barnea  (xxxii.  8),  all  these  words  being 
used.  As  specimens  of  its  productions  they  brought  pome- 
granates and  figs,  but  especially  a  vine  branch  with  one 
cluster  of  grapes,  which  had  to  be  carried  on  a  stafif  be- 
tween two.  It  had  been  cut  at  the  brook  of  Eshcol,  and 
enormous  as  it  was,  it  has  been  matched  for  size  and  weight, 
as  is  well  known,  by  clusters  grown  under  favourable  con- 
ditions in  England.  Their  report  was  as  follows  :  "  We 
came  unto  the  land  whither  thou  sentest  us,  and  surely  it 
floweth  with  milk  and  honey,  and  this  is  the  fruit  of  it. 
Nevertheless  the  people  be  strong  that  dwell  in  the  land, 
and  the  cities  are  walled  and  very  great.  And  moreover  we 
saw  the  children  of  Anak  there.  The  Amalekites  dwell  in 
the  land  of  the  South,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Jebusites, 
and  the  Amorites,  dwell  in  the  mountains  ;  and  the  Canaan- 
ites  dwell  by  the  sea  and  by  the  coast  of  Jordan."  Caleb, 
observing  some  agitation  among  the  people  at  this  formid- 
able account  in  the  presence  of  Moses,  here  interposed  and 
said :  "  Let  us  go  up  at  once  and  possess  it,  for  we  are  well  able 
to  overcome  it."  The  other  spies  (Joshua  excepted)  replied  : 
"  We  be  not  able  to  go  up  against  the  people  ;  for  they 
are  stronger  than  we.  It  is  a  land  that  eateth  up  the  in- 
habitants thereof,  and  all  the  people  that  we  saw  in  it  are 
men  of  great  stature  ;  and  there  we  saw  the  giants,  the  sons 
of  Anak,  which  came  of  the  giants,  and  we  were  in  our  own 
sight  as  grasshoppers,  and  so  we  were  in  their  sight."  By 
the  land  eating  up  its  inhabitants  we  are  probably  to  under- 
stand an  allusion  to  the  perpetual  war  and  bloodshed  among 
a  people  addicted  to  arms,  oppressing,  enslaving,  tyrannising 
over  and  grinding  down  the  weaker  classes  ;  anything  there- 
fore but  a  united  and  really  powerful  people  ;  no  common- 
wealth but  a  multitude  of  contentious  chieftains  and  castled 
robbers,  the  lives  of  the  inferior  orders  sacrificed  to  their 
ambition.  The  weak  point  of  this  report  was  not  its  relation 
of  facts,  which  were  probably  all  true  ;  but  their  saying — 
"  We  be  not  able  to  go  up  against  the  people,  for  they  are 
stronger  than  we."  Such  language  was  simply  a  denial  of 
their  being  under  God's  leading.      It  was  in  flat  contra- 


NUMBERS  i8i 

diction  to  the  words  of  Moses  at  the  advance  of  the  ark, 
"Let  God  arise  and  let  His  enemies  be  scattered."  If  the 
spies  were  right,  the  people  had  been  brought  into  the 
wilderness  for  their  betrayal  ;  there  was  no  God  leading 
them  at  all  ;  Moses  was  an  impostor  ;  their  Tabernacle  was 
unmeaning,  their  polity  an  illusion  ;  they  were  not  a  theo- 
cratic or  a  chosen  people  ;  the  promised  land  was  altogether 
visionary.  The  intrepid  words  of  Caleb  were  quite  lost  upon 
the  people,  and  the  unworthy  fears  of  the  ten  spies,  leaders 
in  Israel,  prevailed.  They  broke  out  into  open  mutiny. 
"  Would  God  that  we  had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt !  Or 
would  God  we  had  died  in  this  wilderness  !  And  wherefore 
hath  the  Lord  brought  us  unto  this  land  to  fall  by  the  sword, 
that  our  wives  and  our  children  should  be  a  prey  ?  Were  it 
not  better  for  us  to  return  unto  Egypt  ?  .  .  .  Let  us  make  a 
captain,  and  let  us  return  unto  Egypt."  The  folly  of  such 
a  design  was  on  a  par  with  its  undutifulness.  The  spirit  of 
it  was  the  spirit  of  grasshoppers  indeed.  To  go  back  with- 
out Moses,  without  God  ;  chased  by  every  foe  of  the  desert, 
expecting  to  be  received  back  into  Egypt  as  friends  !  Situ- 
ated as  they  were,  the  Anakims  in  front  of  them,  the  desert 
and  Egypt  behind  them,  their  only  way  of  safety  was  the 
way  of  faith  and  courage,  as  when  they  were  between  the 
Red  Sea  and  the  Eg>^ptians,  and  the  order  was  "  Forward  ! " 
In  this  sense  Joshua  and  Caleb  spoke  out  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  two  true  Israelites  :  "The  land  which  we  passed 
through  to  search  it  is  an  exceeding  good  land.  If  the 
Lord  delight  in  us,  then  He  will  bring  us  into  this  land,  and 
give  it  us,  a  land  which  floweth  with  milk  and  honey.  Only 
rebel  not  ye  against  the  Lord,  neither  fear  ye  the  people  of 
the  land  ;  for  they  are  bread  for  us.  Their  defence  is  de- 
parted from  them,  and  the  Lord  is  with  us.  Fear  them  not." 
This  noble  appeal  was  not  seconded  by  the  ten  brethren,  and 
it  made  no  impression  on  the  multitude,  who  were  ready  to 
stone  them  to  death.  "  The  Lord  is  with  us,  fear  them  not," 
was  the  watchword  of  the  faithful.  "  We  are  not  able  "  was 
the  cry  of  the  doubters.  At  the  intercession  of  Moses  the 
divine  displeasure  was  so  far  averted  that  the  protection  and 


i82  THE  PENTATEUCH 

guidance  from  above  were  not  withdrawn  ;  but  there  was  no 
contrition  in  the  nation,  and  it  was  sentenced  to  exclusion 
from  Canaan  for  forty  years,  dating  from  the  time  of  their 
leaving  Egypt,  about  thirty-eight  years  from  the  arrival  at 
Kadesh.  Not  one  of  that  generation  who  was  over  twenty 
should  enter  the  promised  land  except  Caleb  and  Joshua. 
As  the  searching  of  the  land  had  occupied  forty  days,  the 
penal  exclusion  was  to  last  forty  years.  Thus  the  nation 
was  pardoned,  but  not  without  the  exaction  of  a  penalty. 
God  had  declared  Himself  at  Sinai  (Exod.  xxxiv.  6),  as  one 
who  would  forgive  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin,  but  would 
by  no  means  clear  the  guilty.  There  was  to  be  a  penalty  for 
guilt,  which  would  not  otherwise  be  cleared.  It  was  not 
cleared  by  being  overlooked  and  forgotten.  The  passage  of 
Exodus  is  quoted  in  the  intercession  of  Moses  (Num.  xiv. 
17,  19),  and  may  be  considered  as  illustrated  by  the  pardon 
and  sentence  now  under  notice. 

XXIV.  Repulsed  from  Canaan  (Num.  xiv.  40-45). — 
The  people  now  came  to  a  sense  of  their  sin  ;  yet  it  was  no 
genuine  repentance,  inasmuch  as  all  real  submission  was 
lacking.  They  resolved  on  seizing  Canaan  at  once,  and  the 
sentence  of  exile  in  the  desert  for  forty  years  they  were  bent 
upon  reversing,  not  by  proper  humiliation  but  by  force  and 
presumption,  though  plainly  told  by  Moses  that  they  were 
acting  against  the  divine  will.  The  inspiring  words,  "  Let 
God  arise  and  let  His  enemies  be  scattered,"  were  not  heard, 
and  the  host  was  not  preceded  by  the  ark.  The  sacred 
narrative  runs  thus  :  "  And  they  rose  up  early  in  the 
morning  and  gat  them  up  into  the  top  of  the  mountain, 
saying,  Lo,  we  be  here,  and  will  go  up  unto  the  place  which 
the  Lord  hath  promised  ;  for  we  have  sinned.  And  Moses 
said.  Wherefore  now  do  ye  transgress  the  commandment 
of  the  Lord  ?  But  it  shall  not  prosper.  Go  not  up,  for  the 
Lord  is  not  among  you,  that  ye  be  not  smitten  before  your 
enemies.  For  the  Amalekites  and  the  Canaanites  are  there 
before  you,  and  ye  shall  fall  by  the  sword  ;  because  ye  are 
turned  away  from  the  Lord,  therefore  the  Lord  will  not  be 


NUMBERS  183 

with  you.  But  they  presumed  to  go  up  unto  the  hill-top  ; 
nevertheless  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  Moses, 
departed  not  out  of  the  camp.  Then  the  Amalekites  came 
down,  and  the  Canaanites  which  dwelt  in  that  hill,  and 
smote  them  and  discomfited  them,  even  unto  Hormah." 
This  repulse  told  them  that  they  had  judged  most  truly  as 
to  their  inability  to  conquer  Canaan  by  their  own  unassisted 
prowess.  Their  first  sin  had  been  unbelief,  not  looking  to  God ; 
their  second,  presumption,  looking  entirely  to  themselves. 

XXV.  KORAH,  Dathan,  Abiram  (Num.  xvi.). — Korah 
was  a  Levite,  belonging  to  the  Kohathite  division  of  his 
tribe,  privileged  to  have  the  sanctuary  under  their  charge 
at  removals.  Dathan  and  Abiram  were  heads  of  families  in 
the  tribe  of  Reuben.  The  Kohathite  camp  was  south  of  the 
Tabernacle  and  near  it  ;  the  Reubenites  were  also  on  the 
south,  but  remoter.  Joined  with  them  on  this  occasion 
were  two  hundred  and  fifty  princes  of  the  assembly,  famous 
in  the  congregation,  men  of  renown.  All  these  set  them- 
selves up  against  the  supreme  authority  of  Moses  and 
Aaron,  whom  they  accused  of  assuming  their  high  position 
without  any  divine  sanction.  Korah,  supported  by  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty,  contested  the  authority  of  Aaron  ;  Dathan 
and  Abiram,  with  their  followers,  that  of  Moses.  Korah 
and  his  party,  who  had  possessed  themselves  of  censers  and 
incense,  assembled  at  the  bidding  of  Moses  in  the  court 
of  the  Taberncle,  where  also  was  Aaron.  Confronting  the 
rebel  party  as  they  held  their  censers  with  incense  burning 
in  them,  Moses  reminded  them  of  their  privileges  as  Levites, 
and  demanded,  "  Seek  ye  the  priesthood  also  ? "  Dathan 
and  Abiram,  though  likewise  summoned,  refused  to  appear, 
and  when  Moses  went  out  to  remonstrate  with  them  in 
their  camp,  they  charged  him  with  having  failed  to  bring 
them  out  of  the  wilderness,  and  with  making  himself  alto- 
gether a  prince  over  them.  Upon  both  divisions  of  the 
rebellion  the  judgment  of  God  fell.  Dathan  and  Abiram, 
along  with  all  their  families,  whom  they  had  assembled  at 
the  doors  of  their  tents,  as  if  to  share  in  their  attitude  of 


1 84  THE  PENTATEUCH 

defiance,  were  engulphed  in  the  ground  whereon  they  stood, 
while  Korah  and  his  adherents  in  the  Tabernacle  court 
perished  by  fire  from  God,  but  their  families  were  not 
included  in  their  fate.  The  two  hundred  and  fifty  censers 
were  taken  to  be  made  into  a  covering  for  the  altar.  In- 
stead of  being  subdued  by  this  judgment,  the  people  at 
large  were  provoked  by  it  to  further  sedition,  for  the  punish- 
ment of  which  a  plague  was  sent  among  them,  until,  at  the 
command  of  Moses,  Aaron  hurried  out  into  the  camp  with 
his  high  priest's  censer  and  incense  burning  in  it,  by  which 
he  is  said  to  have  made  "an  atonement  for  the  people." 
"  He  stood  between  the  dead  and  the  living  and  the  plague 
was  stayed."  Such  a  use  by  the  high  priest  of  his  censer 
was  unauthorised  by  the  law,  but  in  the  emergency,  and  at 
the  initiative  of  Moses,  it  was  sanctioned  and  the  plague 
ceased.  This  was  enough  to  show  the  difference  between 
the  authorised  censer  in  authorised  hands,  and  the  rebel 
censer  in  rebel  hands  ;  one  saving  life,  the  other  destroying 
it.  It  was  an  incontestible  proof  that  Aaron  stood  accepted 
and  the  conspirators  rejected.  Nothing  less  severe  than 
these  judgments  sufficed  to  discipline  the  ungovernable 
wilfulness  of  this  people  ;  and  if  the  punishment  should 
seem  to  have  been  in  excess,  it  must  be  remembered  that  it 
was  their  salvation  in  the  end.  For  in  their  situation,  sur- 
rounded by  desolate  wildernesses,  on  the  borders  of  warlike 
populations  all  hostile  to  them,  without  the  strictest  subordi- 
nation to  their  leaders,  the  nation  must  have  gone  to  pieces 
and  have  perished  to  the  last  man.  Such  mutinous  be- 
haviour could  have  been  justified  by  nothing  but  the  most 
tyrannical  use  of  authority  ;  but  if  ever  a  leader  bore  his 
people  on  his  heart  and  carried  them  like  a  father,  to  say 
nothing  of  skill  and  remarkable  success,  that  man  was 
Moses.  In  order  to  place  the  fact  of  God's  choice  of  the 
house  of  Aaron  beyond  all  future  dispute,  and  not  let  it  rest 
simply  on  the  punishment  of  gainsayers,  Moses  was  bidden 
to  take  twelve  rods,  each  bearing  the  name  of  a  tribe,  the 
rod  of  Levi  being  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Aaron.  This 
was  done,  and  the  rods  were  laid  up  before  the  Lord  in  the 


NUMBERS  185 

Tabernacle.  On  the  morrow  Moses  went  in  and  saw  that 
the  rod  of  Aaron  had  "  brought  forth  buds,  and  bloomed 
blossoms,  and  yielded  almonds;"  and  Moses  brought 
out  all  the  rods  from  before  the  Lord  unto  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  and  they  looked  and  took  every  man 
his  rod.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  "  Bring  Aaron's 
rod  again  before  the  testimony,  to  be  kept  for  a  token 
against  the  rebels,  and  thou  shalt  quite  take  away  their 
murmurings  from  me,  that  they  die  not."  This  was  done. 
In  what  precise  manner  Aaron's  rod  was  kept  "before  the 
testimony"  (ver.  10)  and  "in  the  ark"  (Heb.  ix.  4)  is  not 
clear.  The  effect  of  the  judgment  upon  the  rebels,  and  the 
budding  of  Aaron's  rod,  was  to  stay  all  murmurings  of  the 
people  and  curb  their  presumption.  Any  usurpation  of  the 
priesthood  they  saw  would  prove  their  destruction,  saying 
to  Moses  :  "  Behold,  we  die,  we  perish,  we  all  perish. 
Whosoever  cometh  anything  near  unto  the  tabernacle  of 
the  Lord  shall  die  :  shall  we  be  consumed  with  dying?" 
(vers.  12, 13).  By  the  expression,  "  cometh  anything  near  the 
tabernacle,"  they  evidently  meant  any  attempt  to  usurp 
priestly  functions,  not  the  drawing  near  with  offerings  or  as 
worshippers. 

XXVI.  Water  from  the  Rock  {Num.  xx.). — "Then 
came  the  children  of  Israel,  even  the  whole  congregation, 
into  the  desert  of  Zin  in  the  first  month  ;  and  the  people 
abode  in  Kadesh  ;  and  Miriam  died  there,  and  was  buried 
there."  The  first  month  here  means  the  first  month  of  the 
fortieth  year  since  the  departure  from  Egypt,  as  is  clear 
from  other  parts  of  the  narrative,  e.g.^  the  death  of  Aaron 
further  on.  The  people  had  therefore  now  nearly  spent 
the  period  of  their  penal  wandering,  some  thirty-eight  years, 
which  are  almost  an  historic  blank,  without  any  recorded 
incidents  other  than  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  and  the  budding 
of  Aaron's  rod.  We  are  now  arrived  at  the  eve  of  the 
final  march  towards  the  promised  land  from  Kadesh.  The 
probabiHty  is,  that  the  Tabernacle  and  head-quarters  of 
Israel  had  been  stationed  at  Kadesh-barnea  all  the  time, 


1 86  THE  PENTATEUCH 

while  the  main  body  of  the  people  had  partially  dispersed 
more  or  less  and  from  time  to  time.  Now  they  were 
mustered  for  the  final  movement  and  there  abode  for  a 
time,  during  which  Miriam  died,  and  water  sprang  from 
the  rock  by  the  hand  of  God.  The  account  of  this  is 
given  in  vers.  2-6.  Water  was  a  necessity  of  life,  and  the 
craving  for  it  was  quite  a  different  thing  from  the  discontent 
which  caused  a  rejection  of  the  manna.  Nor  was  this  mur- 
muring so  offensive  a  thing  as  the  rebellion  of  Korah.  The 
present  fault  is  one  of  another  sort.  A  people  cared  for 
and  blessed  as  they  had  been  should  have  humbly  betaken 
themselves  to  their  heavenly  Father.  To  wish  themselves 
dead,  to  chide  their  leaders,  accusing  them  of  spite  and 
betrayal,  was  to  show  the  petulance  of  children  rather  than 
the  fortitude  of  men  and  the  faith  of  a  chosen  people. 
Moses  and  Aaron  said  nothing,  but  went  to  the  Tabernacle 
to  know  the  divine  will.  Without  any  reproofs,  Moses  was 
shown  how  the  wants  of  the  people  should  be  relieved  : 
"  Take  thou  the  rod,  and  gather  thou  the  assembly  together, 
thou  and  Aaron  thy  brother,  and  speak  ye  unto  the  rock 
before  their  eyes,  and  it  shall  give  forth  his  water"  (ver.  8). 
The  rod  was  taken  accordingly,  the  people  were  assembled  ; 
and  now  came  the  turn  of  Moses  and  Aaron  to  be  offenders, 
and  the  only  ones  punished,  the  meek,  the  humble,  the 
obedient  and  faithful  Moses,  leading  in  the  offence.  In  the 
first  place  he  "spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips" (Ps.  cvi.  32,  33), 
when,  instead  of  reflecting,  in  his  expressions,  the  almighti- 
ness  and  the  compassion  of  a  common  Father,  their  heavenly 
Guide,  he  burst  out  in  a  hurry  of  impatience,  and  in  most 
unseemly  self-assertion  :  "  Hear  now,  ye  rebels  ;  must  we 
fetch  water  for  you  out  of  this  rock?"  He  had  no  com- 
mission for  such  irritable  words,  which  expressed  his  own 
severity  and  concealed  the  goodness  of  God.  His  second 
offence  was  that,  heedless  of  his  instructions,  he  smote  the 
rock  instead  of  speaking  to  it ;  and  when  the  first  stroke 
produced  no  result,  instead  of  being  alarmed  into  recollec- 
tion and  to  the  recovery  of  himself,  he  smote  a  second  time 
before  the  water  flowed.     The  flow,  however,  did  come,  and 


NUMBERS  187 

the  leaders  were  not  discredited  before  their  people  ;  but 
they  were  reproved  nevertheless,  and  with  a  severity  that 
might  surprise  us  :  "  Because  ye  believed  Me  not,  to  sanctify 
Me  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel,  therefore  ye  shall 
not  bring  this  congregation  into  the  land  which  I  have  given 
them.  This  is  the  water  of  Meribah  ;  because  the  children 
of  Israel  strove  with  the  Lord,  and  He  was  sanctified  in 
them  "(vers.  12,  13).  His  character,  His  power,  His  holi- 
ness, were  vindicated  before  them.  The  spot  was  also  called 
Meribah-Kadesh  (Deut.  xxxiii.  8),  and  the  waters  of  strife 
(Ps.  cvi.  32).  Meribah  means  strife.  There  was  another 
Meribah,  also  called  Massah.  The  miracle  now  under  con- 
sideration, if  it  did  not  actually  originate  the  spring  and 
its  concomitant  fertility,  may  be  considered  to  have  restored 
it  after  a  period  of  intermittance  and  drought. 

XXVII.  Edom's  Refusal  (AVw.  xx.  14-21).— The 
Edomite  country  was  then  mainly  a  mountain  range  of 
some  120  miles  running  between  the  Dead  Sea  on  the  north 
and  the  Akaba  gulf  of  the  Red  Sea  on  the  south.  A  sixty- 
mile  line  from  Ain  Gadis  eastward  would  strike  the  centre 
of  that  range  at  the  city  of  Petra.  The  Bible  name  Mount 
Seir  is  to  be  understood  of  that  range.  But  there  is  also  in 
Scripture  a  "land  of  Seir,"  occupied  by  Esau  during  his 
father's  lifetime,  and  before  his  removal  to  the  mountain 
range.  This  district,  which  we  naturally  look  for  in  southern 
Canaan  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Beersheba,  may  be  con- 
sidered as  represented  by  that  now  known  as  Es  Seer,  an 
extensive  upland  plain  south-east  from  Beersheba,  south- 
west from  the  Dead  Sea,  and  bounded  on  the  south  by  the 
Wady  Fekreh.  It  lay  some  thirty  miles  north-east  from 
Ain  Gadis  :  so  that  in  desert  geography  Kadesh  and  Edom 
would  sufficiently  approach  each  other  to  allow  of  their  being 
reckoned  as  bordering,  all  being  wilderness  between  them. 
Kadesh  is  also  here  called  a  city,  the  Bible  word  employed 
being  one  applicable  to  any  fortified  or  well  defended  spot, 
which  the  long  Israelite  occupation  must  now  have  rendered 
Kadesh.     A  temporary  city,  in  the  language  of  roving  popu- 


1 88  THE  PENTATEUCH 

lations  all  the  world  over,  it  might  well  have  been  termed. 
The  object  of  the  Israelites  was  to  gain  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Edomite  mountain  range,  and  then  march  northwards 
to  reach  the  Jordan.  The  range  was  a  very  difficult  one  to 
cross  in  the  face  of  opposition.  Up  and  down  the  western 
edge  were  lofty  heights  and  precipitous  cliffs,  barring  all 
entrance.  Yet  there  are  some  few  openings,  one  of  which, 
now  called  Wady  Guweir,  midway  between  Petra  and  the 
Dead  Sea,  broad  enough  to  admit  an  army,  abounding  in 
springs  and  pasture,  may  well  be  thought  to  have  been  the 
route  which  Moses  desired  permission  to  take.  He  could 
have  reached  it  by  descending  the  Wady  Fekreh. 

XXVIII.  The  Death  of  Aaron  (Num.  xx.  22-29). — 
There  is  an  old  and  general  opinion  that  Mount  Hor  was 
the  height  now  called  by  the  Arabs /ede/  Hartrnj  Mount  of 
Aaron,  close  to  the  city  of  Petra.  It  rises  nearly  5000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  upon  one  of  its 
two  summits,  conspicuous  for  a  long  distance,  there  is  a 
Mahometan  chapel  over  the  supposed  grave  of  Aaron. 
Against  this  identification  there  are  very  strong  reasons, 
one,  of  itself  fatal,  being  that  the  spot  lay  within  the  heart 
of  the  dominions  of  Edom,  a  people  hostile  and  repellent. 
Wilton  suggested  and  Dr.  Trumbull  felt  no  doubt  that  the 
true  Mount  Hor  wa.s /edel Mad/^ra/i,  some  twenty-seven  miles 
north-east  from  Ain  Gadis,  a  hill  of  very  striking  appearance 
from  its  isolated  position,  upreared  above  the  surrounding 
plain  like  a  natural  pyramid.  It  stood  at  the  head  of  Wady 
Fekreh  and  close  to  the  border  of  Canaan  and  the  land  of 
Seir.  If  this  identification  is  correct,  Aaron,  as  Moses  after- 
wards, died  on  the  border  of  Canaan. 

XXIX.  The  King  of  Arab  (Mo/l  xxi.  1-3).— King  of 
Arad  (not  King  Arad)  is  the  rendering  of  R.V.,  and  also 
of  Jos.  xii.  14  in  A.V.  His  town  is  believed  to  have  stood  on 
the  small  hill  now  bearing  the  name  7>/  Arad,  30  miles 
due  north  from  Madurah,  55  north-east  from  Ain  Gadis, 
20  south  from  Hebron,  in  the  South,  i.e.,  in  the  south  of 


NUMBERS  189 

Canaan.  This  chief,  hearing  that  Israel  "came  by  way  of 
the  spies,"  fell  upon  them,  and  the  Israelites,  calling  upon 
God,  attacked  the  Canaanite  king  and  utterly  destroyed  his 
cities.  The  march  of  Israel,  or  a  detachment  of  them,  to 
Mount  Hor,  if  that  was  Madurah,  might  have  been  con- 
strued by  the  King  of  Arad  as  a  menace  of  invasion,  and  so 
have  led  to  this  affair. 

XXX.  The  Brazen  Serpent  {Num.  xxi.  4-9). — Denied 
a  passage  across  the  Edomite  mountains,  the  Israelites 
journeyed  southwards  "  to  compass  the  land  of  Edom,"  i.e., 
to  go  round  the  lower  end  of  them  by  the  Akaba  gulf  of  the 
Red  Sea,  a  circuitous  route  which  greatly  wearied  and  dis- 
couraged them.  Giving  vent  to  a  distrustful  and  murmuring 
spirit,  they  were  plagued  by  a  visitation  of  "  fiery  serpents," 
whose  venomous  bite  caused  a  great  mortality.  There  still 
abound  in  those  regions  reptiles  deserving  the  same  name, 
from  the  fever,  inflammation,  and  intense  thirst  caused  by 
their  sting.  The  confession  of  their  sin  and  the  intercession 
of  Moses  were  answered  by  Moses  being  commanded  to 
make  a  "  fiery  serpent "  and  set  it  upon  a  pole,  "  and  it 
came  to  pass  that  if  a  serpent  had  bitten  any  man,  when  he 
beheld  the  serpent  of  brass  he  lived."  This  remedial  figure 
may  be  conceived  as  having  been  conveyed  from  station  to 
station  throughout  the  host,  whenever  sufferers  were  found 
or  could  be  brought.  Should  not  then  so  easy  a  cure  have 
removed  the  plague  absolutely  at  once .''  So  it  might  seem  ; 
and  yet  its  very  simplicity  may  have  caused  distrust  and 
driven  patients  either  to  despair  or  to  the  apparently  more 
reasonable  means  of  using  any  available  medicaments. 
A  remedy  so  simple  as  one  requiring  nothing  to  be  done, 
nothing  but  a  look,  was  a  remedy  of  faith  and  trust,  and  the 
wisdom  of  it  is  seen  as  soon  as  it  is  considered  that  the  lack 
of  those  two  ver}^  things  had  brought  the  punishment  upon 
them.  So  also  when  our  Lord  said  (St.  John  iii.  14),  "As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must 
the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
Him  should  not  perish  but  have  eternal  life,"  might  not  God 


I90  THE  PENTATEUCH 

have  granted  eternal  life  by  a  simple  decree  ?  A  word  ?  But 
it  pleased  Him  to  annex  the  condition  that  salvation  should 
be  sought  for  in  faith.  Nay  more.  This  method  of  salvation 
declares  that  a  remedy  was  needed.  Such  was  the  lesson  of 
all  the  offerings  under  the  law.  The  remedy  for  sin  was  one 
lying  in  the  will  of  God,  not  any  that  human  skill  could  pro- 
vide, or  could  even  explain  when  it  was  provided. 

XXXI.  The  March  to  Jordan  {Num.  xxi.  10-35). — 
The  Israelites,  having  gained  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
Edomite  range,  rounded  that  and  proceeded  northward  on 
the  eastern  side.  Their  route  now  corresponded  more  or 
less  with  the  one  commonly  used  by  the  Mahommedan 
pilgrims  journeying  between  Damascus  and  Mecca,  and 
called  the  Haj  {i.e.  pilgrhn)  road.,  having  a  general  direction 
north  and  south,  and  gradually  ascending  northwards  to  a 
higher  and  higher  level.  Having  reached  as  far  in  latitude 
as  the  northern  end  of  the  Edomite  range  and  the  southern 
end  of  the  Dead  Sea,  they  commenced  skirting  Moabite 
territory.  At  length  they  reached  the  river  Arnon,  flowing 
through  a  ravine,  or  wady  in  Arabic,  the  upper  half  of  which 
is  now  known  as  Sell  Saideh,  and  the  lower  half  Mojeb.  The 
Arnon  entered  the  Dead  Sea  midway  between  its  northern 
and  southern  ends,  and  in  the  lower  half  of  its  course  formed 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  Moabite  kingdom,  beyond 
which  dwelt  an  Amorite  people  ruled  by  King  Sihon.  The 
Israelites  crossed  the  Arnon  in  the  upper  part  of  its  course, 
and  so  avoided  trespassing  on  Moab  as  they  had  done  on 
Edom.  A  scarcity  of  water  was  now  again  felt.  The  Israel- 
ites had  reached  a  land  of  water,  though  the  water  might  be 
invisible.  "  Gather  the  people  together,"  said  the  Lord  to 
Moses,  "  and  I  will  give  them  water."  The  gift-  came,  not 
by  the  former  miracles  of  smiting  a  rock,  but  by  the  people 
themselves,  headed  by  their  princes,  digging  down  to  it. 
Instead  of  the  voice  of  murmuring,  anger,  and  unbelief,  the 
sound  of  praise  and  singing  was  now  heard,  and  the  well  that 
was  dug  was  named  Beer  (vers.  16,  17).  Up  to  this  time  the 
Israelites  had  been,  ever  since  leaving  Egypt,  wanderers  in 


NUMBERS  191 

no-man's-land,  just  like  the  Midianites  of  their  own  day  and 
the  Bedouins  in  ours.  They  had  scrupulously  avoided  in- 
vading Edom  from  the  west,  and  Moab  from  the  east.  Yet 
in  order  to  reach  the  Jordan  they  musi  get  through  a  settled 
country,  forcibly  or  peaceably,  for  both  Jordan  and  the  Dead 
Sea,  from  top  to  bottom,  were  lined  by  settled  peoples. 
Aggression  on  Moab  had  been  forbidden,  for  Moab  and 
Israel  were  kindred  nations.  They  could  reach  the  Jordan 
by  breaking  through  the  Amorites,  who  occupied  the  district 
between  the  Lower  Amon  on  the  south,  and  the  Jabbok  on 
the  north,  a  district  once  belonging  to  Moab,  and  in  former 
days  seized  by  the  Amorites.  The  Israelites  were  not  for- 
bidden to  make  war  on  the  Amorites  ;  yet  they  did  not 
court  hostility,  but  in  a  peaceable  manner  asked  permission 
to  pass  through  as  friends,  just  as  they  had  done  to  Edom. 
Sihon,  the  Amorite  king,  who  ruled  at  Heshbon,  not  satisfied 
with  forbidding  a  passage,  came  out  into  the  wilderness  (ver. 
23)  to  attack  them,  and  so  were  the  actual  aggressors.  He 
being  defeated  and  slain,  his  whole  kingdom  fell  a  prize  of 
war  to  the  Israelites,  who  were  now  at  length  in  a  land  of 
cities  and  cultivated  fields.  Then  Israel  "turned  and  went 
up  by  way  of  Bashan,"  a  district  rich  in  cattle  in  the  far 
north,  ruled  by  King  Og,  whose  subjects,  like  himself,  were 
Amorites,  which  probably  accounts  for  this  movement  of  the 
Israelites,  who  seem  to  have  returned  eastward  out  of  their 
new  possession  into  the  wilderness  and  then  to  have  marched 
north,  possibly  intending  to  secure  the  neutrality  and  allow- 
ance of  Og  in  their  projected  crossing  of  the  Jordan.  Og,  how- 
ever, issued  to  the  attack,  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  all 
his  kingdom,  which  reached  down  to  the  Jabbok,  fell  to  the 
Israelites.  Thus  the  entire  country  east  of  the  Jordan  was 
become  Israelitish. 

XXXII.  The  Visit  of  Balaam  (yV//w.  xxii.-xxiv.).— The 
Israelites  lay  encamped  by  the  Jordan  opposite  Jericho,  in 
what  are  called  "  the  plains  of  Moab,"  the  reason  of  which 
appellation  is,  that  the  land  just  wrested  from  the  Amorites 
was  originally  Moabite  and  was  considered  so  still,  after 


192  THE  PENTATEUCH 

the  expulsion  of  those  usurpers.     Israel  had  fairly  won  that 
territory  from  the  Amorites,  not  from  the  Moabites.     The 
Moabites  might  be  vexed  to  see  a  new  tribe  of  invaders  on 
their  old  soil,  yet  they  had  no  just  grievance.     Israel  had 
not  molested  Moab,  and  had  no  intention  of  molesting  it ; 
yet  their  proximity  to  the  Amon  was  naturally  alarming. 
Despairing  of  all  ordinary  measures,  the   Moabite   rulers 
sought  to  gain  the  supernatural  powers  to  their  side,  and 
Balaam  was  sent  for.     Balaam  dwelt  at  Pethor,  by  the  river 
of  his  people's  land  (xxii.  5)  ;  otherwise,  in  Aram  among  the 
mountains  of  the  East  (xxiii.  7) ;  and  was  of  Pethor  in  Meso- 
potamia (Deut.  xxiii.  4).     Mesopotamia  in  Greek  is  equiva- 
lent to  Aram-naharaim  in  Hebrew,  z>.,  "  Aram  of  the  two 
rivers,"  these  being  Euphrates  and  Tigris.     But  Pethor  has 
not  been  discovered,   and  all  we  can  feel  sure  of  is  that 
it  was,  like  Nineveh,  somewhere  near  the  upper   streams 
of  those  rivers  ;  for  there  only  are  "  mountains,"  the  lower 
parts  of  Euphrates  and  Tigris  flowing  through  level  plains. 
Balaam  professed   to  reverence    the  one   Lord  God.     Far 
and  wide  the  potency  of  his  blessing  and  his  curse  was  be- 
lieved in,  and  he  had  deluded  himself  into  the  idea  that  he 
possessed  influence  sufficient  to  change  the  will  of  God.     As 
a  means  of  teaching  him  the  reverse,  the  Almighty  allowed 
him,  on  his  persistent  request,  to  return  with  the  messengers 
of  Balak.     He  had  refused  that  permission  at  first,  but  to 
convince  the  prophet  that  leave  was  given  in  displeasure, 
and  to  terrify  him  against  daring  to  utter  against   Israel 
anything  contrary  to  the  divine  inspiration,  God  permitted 
two  portents  to  encounter  him  on  the  road  ;    he  was  re- 
buked by  words  proceeding  from  the  ass  which  carried  him, 
speaking  with  a  man's  voice  (2  Pet.  ii.  16),  while  an  angel 
with  a  drawn  sword  blocking  the  way  became  visible  to  him. 
Overawed  and  proposing  to  turn  back,  he  was  bidden  pro- 
ceed and  pronounce  upon  Israel  a  declaration  of  the  mind 
of  God.     At  the  Amon,  the  Moabite  boundary,  he  was  met 
by  Balak,  whom  he  distinctly  warned  that  he  was  but  the 
mouthpiece  of  God.     All  in  vain  proved  the  imposing  altar 
services  and  every  endeavour  to  extract  a  curse  from  his  lips ; 


NUMBERS  193 

nothing  but  blessings  would  issue  :  "  Behold,  I  have  received 
commandment  to  bless  ;  and  He  hath  blessed,  and  I  cannot 
reverse  it.  He  hath  not  beheld  iniquity  in  Jacob,  neither 
hath  He  seen  perverseness  in  Israel.  The  Lord  his  God  is 
with  him,  and  the  shout  of  a  king  is  among  them.  Surely 
there  is  no  enchantment  against  Jacob,  neither  is  there  any 
divination  against  Israel."  Convinced  at  length  of  the  futility 
of  his  attempt  to  change  the  divine  mind,  Balaam  desisted 
from  it,  and  as  he  gazed  upon  that  splendid  orderly  array  of 
the  chosen  people  tented  according  to  their  tribes,  the  Spirit 
of  God  came  upon  him,  and  now  at  length  he  uttered  a  really 
prophetic  speech  :  "  How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob,  and 
thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel  !  As  the  valleys  are  they  spread 
forth,  as  gardens  by  the  river  side  ;  as  the  trees  of  lign  aloes 
which  the  Lord  hath  planted,  and  as  cedar-trees  beside  the 
waters.  .  .  .  God  hath  brought  him  forth  out  of  Egypt  ;  he 
hath,  as  it  were,  the  strength  of  an  unicorn.  He  shall  eat 
up  the  nations  his  enemies,  and  shall  break  their  bones, 
and  pierce  them  through  with  his  arrows.  .  .  .  Blessed  is 
he  that  blesseth  thee,  and  cursed  is  he  that  curseth  thee." 
The  interposition  of  the  enraged  king  was  brushed  aside  ; 
honour,  great  honour,  a  houseful  of  gold,  had  no  power  to 
check  the  prophet's  inspiration,  and  the  word  proceeded  : 
"  I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now  ;  I  shall  behold  him,  but  not 
nigh  :  there  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  Sceptre 
shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  corners  of  Moab, 
and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth.  And  Edom  shall  be  a 
possession,  Seir  also  shall  be  a  possession  for  his  enemies, 
and  Israel  shall  do  valiantly."  As  the  chosen  people  lay 
encamped  on  the  border  of  Canaan,  God  declared  that  He 
had  not  beheld  iniquity,  nor  seen  perverseness,  in  them. 
What  then  of  all  the  iniquity  and  perverseness  of  the  forty 
years — the  forty  years  of  provocation?  They  were  facts, 
which  had  not  been,  never  could  be,  obliterated.  The 
words  were  not  intended  to  deny  that  Israel  was  a  re- 
bellious people,  but  to  declare  that  God  would  not  at  that 
moment  behold  their  rebellion;  in  other  words, -that  He 
had  pardoned  it.  They  were  entering  Canaan  therefore, 
s.  n  N 


194  THE  PENTATEUCH 

not  for  their  righteousness  but  under  the  pardoning  grace 
of  God.  In  the  Christian  day  an  Apostle  wrote  the 
following  queries  and  answers,  which  supply  a  striking 
comment  on  the  proclamation  of  Balaam  :  "Who  shall 
lay  anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is  God 
that  justifieth.  Who  is  He  that  condemneth  ?  It  is  Christ 
that  died  ;  yea  rather,  that  is  risen  again  ;  who  is  even  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for 
us"  (Rom.  viii.  33-37).  That  was  the  lesson  of  Israel's 
altar  and  Israel's  priesthood,  around  which  they  were 
gathered  when  Balaam  viewed  them  abiding  in  their  tents  ; 
and  by  virtue  of  Christ,  who  was  there  typified,  Balak's  thrice 
seven  altars  could  not  prevail  to  hurt.  Balaam  could  not 
curse  when  it  pleased  the  righteous  God  to  justify.  Israel's 
pardon  after  all  those  wilderness  years,  proclaimed  from  the 
hill-tops  to  the  surrounding  nations,  is  a  thought  which  for 
its  impressiveness  matches  that  of  Sinai  itself. 

XXXIII.  Israel  joined  unto  Baal-Peor  {Num.  xxv.). 
— Here  are  seen  the  abominations  of  heathen  sacrifices  in 
utter  contrast  to  the  pure  and  holy  offerings  ordained  for 
Israel  at  Sinai.  Those  altar  rites  were  not  only  attended 
with  the  wickedness  here  spoken  of;  they  were  direct 
incentives  to  it,  expressly  intended  and  contrived  for  the 
purpose  of  it.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  in  regard  to  some 
of  the  temple  worships  of  Pagan  classical  antiquity  and  to  the 
"religion"  of  some  heathen  peoples  of  the  present  day.  In 
a  period  when  altar  sacrifices  were  the  universal  mode  of 
worship,  the  absolute  spotlessness  of  the  Tabernacle  offerings 
indicates  a  protest  against  the  evil  propensities  of  the  human 
heart  which  cannot  but  powerfully  impress  the  minds  of  such 
as  reflect  upon  it.  It  is  a  fact  in  the  Old  Testament  corres- 
ponding with  the  fact  of  the  perfect  character  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  New  ;  and  as  the  one  is  a  most  powerful 
argument  for  the  divine  origin  of  the  Gospel,  so  is  the  other 
of  the  Law.  It  removes  all  the  difficulty  of  that  expression, 
"  Ye  are  a  holy  people,"  applied  to  the  chosen  race.  So 
likewise  does  the  fact  that  an  outbreak  of  wickedness  among 


NUMBERS  195 

them  on  a  national  scale  is  never  unaccompanied  with  severe 
chastisement.  The  death  of  the  Israelite  offenders  instantly- 
decreed,  the  pestilence  at  once  slaying  its  thousands,  terribly 
brought  home  to  the  people  that  they  were  a  holy  nation. 
Weeping,  they  flocked  to  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle  ;  and 
when  with  a  defiant  effrontery  a  high-born  Israelite  brought 
his  high-born  Midianitess  into  the  camp  within  view  of  the 
penitential  gathering,  the  high-priest's  own  son  Phinehas, 
following  them  with  a  javelin  into  their  tent,  smote  them  to 
death,  Zimri  and  Cosbi  ;  it  was  but  another  way  of  declaring, 
"  Ye  are  a  holy  nation."  It  showed  that  the  priesthood,  like 
the  great  body  of  the  people,  was  sound  ;  and  as  one  way  of 
perpetuating  in  Israel  the  memory  of  this  deed,  along  with 
the  divine  approval  of  it,  the  high-priesthood  was  declared 
perpetual  in  his  line  by  that  memorable  promise,  "  Behold, 
I  give  unto  him  My  covenant  of  peace  ;  and  he  shall  have  it, 
and  his  seed  after  him,  even  the  covenant  of  an  everlasting 
priesthood  ;  because  he  was  zealous  for  his  God,  and  made 
an  atonement  for  the  children  of  Israel"  (vers.  12,  13).  The 
deed  was  indelible  in  the  records  of  Israel,  and  later  ages 
sang,  "Then  stood  up  Phinehas  and  executed  judgment,  and 
so  the  plague  was  stayed,  and  that  was  counted  unto  him  for 
righteousness  unto  all  generations  for  evermore  "  (Ps.  cvi.  30, 
31).  God's  gracious  proclamation  by  the  lips  of  the  vile 
Balaam,  "  He  hath  not  beheld  iniquity  in  Jacob,"  remained 
true  in  the  sense  intended,  though  it  was  apparently  contra- 
dicted so  soon  after  it  was  spoken,  and  through  Balaam's 
own  wicked  counsels  too  (Num.  xxxi.  16).  This  example  of 
pagan  enormity  was  a  new  experience  to  that  generation  of 
Israel,  reared  in  the  wilderness,  and  there  before  crossing 
the  Jordan  they  beheld  by  one  specimen  what  the  Canaanites 
beyond  were.  They  saw  enough  to  understand  the  awful 
dangers  they  were  exposed  to  in  settling  among  such  tribes. 

XXXIV.  MiDiAN  Punished  (Num.  xxxi.).— "And  the 
Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying.  Avenge  the  children  of 
Israel  of  the  Midianites  :  afterwards  shalt  thou  be  gathered 
to  thy  people."     So  twelve  thousand  armed  men,  a  thousand 


196  THE  PENTATEUCH 

from  each  tribe,  mustered,  and  with  them  was  the  high 
priest's  son  Phinehas,  the  man  so  zealous  for  God,  "with 
the  holy  instruments"  (whatever  these  might  have  been), 
and  the  trumpets  to  blow  in  his  hand.  The  Midianites  fell 
before  them  ;  the  males  were  slain,  as  were  also  the  adult 
females,  since  "these  caused  the  children  of  Israel,  through 
the  counsel  of  Balaam,  to  commit  trespass  against  the  Lord 
in  the  matter  of  Peor,  and  there  was  a  plague  among  the 
congregation  of  the  Lord."  Five  kings  of  Midian  fell. 
"  Balaam  also,  the  son  of  Beor,  they  slew  with  the  sword." 
All  their  cities  and  goodly  castles  were  burnt,  and  there  was 
immense  spoil  in  flocks,  herds,  and  treasure.  In  this  chapter 
we  first  hear  that  the  licentious  idolatry  by  which  Israel  was 
seduced,  originated  in  the  diabolical  counsel  of  Balaam,  and 
that  he  fell  in  this  awful  punishment.  The  Moabite  king, 
whose  offence  was  his  fetching  the  prophet  to  curse,  was 
not  punished,  nor  his  people,  except  by  the  blessing  having 
been  pronounced  in  the  place  of  a  curse  ;  but  their  Midianite 
neighbours  and  allies,  who  brought  their  iniquities  and 
temptations  into  the  holy  camp  of  the  Lord,  provoking  Him 
to  His  face,  and  gratuitously  wronging  the  people  whom 
they  were  assured  were  God's  chosen,  and  by  whom  they 
were  not  molested,  were  destroyed  by  Him  who  sometimes 
employs  for  such  judgments,  fire,  plague,  and  earthquake. 
He  who  brought  the  flood  on  a  world  of  violence,  rained 
fire  upon  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  sent  plagues  on  Egypt, 
destroyed  the  host  of  Pharaoh,  sent  pestilence  on  Israel  in 
the  wilderness,  and  will  judge  the  world,  issued  the  sentence 
against  Midian.  It  is  to  be  noted,  that  this  is  the  first 
instance  in  which  the  Israelites,  with  the  divine  sanction, 
attacked  any  people  who  had  not  first  attacked  them  in 
arms.  Midian,  however,  had  assailed  them  with  temptations 
to  wickedness,  and  that  was  worse. 

XXXV.  GiLEAD  Apportioned  {Num.  xxxii.). — The  land 
of  Canaan  was  that  alone  which  lay  west  of  the  Jordan,  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  and  the  Dead  Sea.  The  country,  however, 
which  in  later  times  was,  and  is,  called  Palestine,  included 


NUMBERS  197 

and  includes  the  eastern  district  as  well.  This  latter,  which 
went  by  the  general  name  of  Gilead,  was  an  elevated  pasture 
land  abounding  in  timber  and  of  great  fertility,  much  de- 
sired therefore  as  a  settlement  by  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and 
Gad,  on  account  of  their  exceptional  wealth  in  sheep  and 
cattle.  Accordingly,  they  petitioned  Moses  and  Eleazar  for 
leave  to  occupy  that  country  instead  of  receiving  an  allot- 
ment in  Canaan.  Since  they  made  no  proposal  to  the  con- 
trary, Moses  interpreted  their  request  as  a  design  to  escape 
the  perils  of  the  Canaanite  war,  and  in  terms  of  indignant 
remonstrance  demanded — "  Shall  your  brethren  go  to  war 
and  shall  ye  sit  here  ?  And  wherefore  discourage  ye  the 
heart  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  going  over  into  the  land 
which  the  Lord  hath  given  them  ?  Thus  did  your  fathers 
when  I  sent  them  from  Kadesh-barnea  to  see  the  land."  In 
the  severest  language,  therefore,  they  were  menaced  with  the 
divine  displeasure.  If  any  such  selfish  part  was  originally 
contemplated  by  the  two  tribes,  it  was  at  once  freely  given 
up,  and  they  hastened  to  satisfy  Moses  of  their  entire  loyalty 
and  obedience,  assuring  him  thus  :  "  We  will  build  sheep- 
folds  here  for  our  cattle,  and  cities  for  our  little  ones  ;  but 
we  ourselves  will  go  ready  armed  before  the  children  of 
Israel  until  we  have  brought  them  unto  their  place  ;  and  our 
little  ones  shall  dwell  in  the  fenced  cities  because  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land.  We  will  not  return  unto  our  houses 
until  the  children  of  Israel  have  inherited  ever}'  man  his 
inheritance."  What  made  the  intention  of  lingering  from 
the  war  (if  that  was  entertained)  the  more  unbecoming  was 
that  the  marching  place  of  the  two  tribes  was  in  the  forward 
half  of  the  host,  in  the  rear  of  one  portion  of  the  Tabernacle, 
and  in  the  van  of  the  other  (Num.  x.  18-21),  a  position 
alluded  to  in  their  words,  "  We  will  go  ready  arnied  before 
the  children  of  Israel"  (xxxii.  17).  The  spirit  here  displayed 
was  held  to  be  satisfactory,  and  the  request  was  granted. 
Half  Manasseh  was  also  located  in  Gilead,  as  the  tribe  had 
distinguished  itself  in  its  conquest  (xxxii.  39-41). 

XXXVI.  Extirpation   of   the   Canaanites    {Num. 


198  THE  PENTATEUCH 

xxxiii.  50-56). — In  this  passage  the  extirpation  by  expulsion 
is  ordered,  slaughter  not  being  mentioned  ;  a  fact  which 
leads  us  to  infer  that  expatriation  would  have  sufficiently 
fulfilled  the  divine  command  as  to  the  Canaanites,  leaving 
death  as  the  alternative  in  the  case  of  exile  being  declined. 
Numerous  instances  are  given  in  Judg.  i.,  in  which  the 
various  tribes  failed  to  drive  out  the  native  Canaanites,  as 
though  that  were  the  primary  intention,  armed  force  being 
employed  as  only  the  means  to  that  end.  But  neither  was 
a  riddance  of  the  Canaanites  the  main  purpose,  so  much 
as  the  annihilation  of  idolatry,  with  all  its  concomitant 
abominations.  One  small  spot  of  the  earth's  surface,  a  spot 
important  for  its  natural  fertility,  and  for  its  commanding 
position,  but  in  size  no  bigger  than  Wales,  was  to  be 
rescued  from  the  corruption  into  which  the  whole  of  man- 
kind was  sunk,  and  that  small  area  was  to  form  a  centre 
and  a  stronghold  of  truth  and  holiness.  God  would  carry 
out  this  design  by  rooting  out  the  old,  and  rooting  in  the 
new.  Israelites  were  in  themselves  no  better  than  Canaan- 
ites ;  they  were  prone  to  many  of  the  same  evils.  But  a  holy 
law  had  been  revealed  to  them,  and  they  were  being  trained 
to  believe  in  it,  love  it,  and  obey  it ;  trained  by  judgments, 
miracles,  and  fatherly  leading.  There  is  no  conceivable 
way  in  which  an  element  of  holiness  could  have  been 
effectually  introduced  into  this  fallen  world,  a  handful  of 
salt  into  this  mass  of  corruption,  save  by  planting  a  new 
worship,  and  a  new  nation  to  carry  it  on  in  the  place  of 
those  in  possession,  that  they  might  become  one  day  in 
the  course  of  God's  providence  the  centre  of  a  mission  to 
all  the  world.  In  vain  would  the  best  of  the  Israelites  be 
sent  into  Canaan  as  preachers  of  righteousness.  Israelites, 
wholly  untrained  as  they  were,  could  not  be  trusted  with 
such  a  mission.  There  must  be  a  law  and  a  worship  estab- 
lished upon  the  mountains,  a  light  upon  the  hills  for  all 
men  to  see,  and  a  forcible  removal  of  the  abominable  thing 
which  no  persuasion  would  stand  any  chance  against. 
Idolatry,  in  short,  was  to  be  uncompromisingly  rooted  out 
by  force  of  arms,  at  the  cost  of  any  amount  of  suffering  to 


NUMBERS  199 

the  resisting  idolaters,  expulsion  if  that  would  suffice,  death 
if  it  would  not.  In  the  then  state  of  the  world  there  was 
apparently  no  other  possible  way  ;  and  when  it  should 
come  to  the  worst,  that  idolatry  must  fall  in  blood,  no 
greater  suffering  was  being  inflicted  than  was  daily  occurring 
during  the  reign  of  the  gods,  in  whose  cruel  names  the 
land  was  (in  the  language  of  the  spies  and  as  was  really 
meant)  devouring  the  inhabitants  thereof  already,  before 
the  Israelites  set  foot  in  it.  The  Israelites  were  by  no 
means,  as  compared  with  contemporary  peoples,  a  cruel 
race.  That  they  were  not  eager  for  war  or  bloodshed  is 
shown  by  the  incidents  of  the  return  of  the  spies,  and  by 
the  petition  of  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad  ;  but  still  more 
by  the  fact  that  they  persistently  neglected  their  commission 
of  judgment,  tolerating  from  generation  to  generation  both 
the  Canaanites  and  their  idolatries.  Nor  was  it  the  design 
of  a  holy  God  to  encourage  in  them  a  callousness  to  human 
suffering.  It  was  that  they  should  be  merciless  to  idol 
worship,  and  all  its  pestilent  accompaniments  at  any  price. 
They  were  a  chosen  race  for  that  purpose  :  not  simply  as 
favoured  at  the  expense  of  other  nations,  but  as  special 
instruments  in  the  divine  hand  ;  with  the  menace  hanging 
over  them,  that  should  they  prove  untrue  to  their  commis- 
sion, they  would  in  their  turn  fare  as  ill  as  the  most  un- 
favoured nation  on  earth.  The  terms  of  their  commission 
then  were  these  :  "  When  ye  are  passed  over  Jordan  into 
the  land  of  Canaan  ;  then  ye  shall  drive  out  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  land  from  before  you,  and  destroy  all  their  pictures, 
and  destroy  all  their  molten  images,  and  quite  pluck  down 
all  their  high  places  :  and  ye  shall  dispossess  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  land  and  dwell  therein  :  for  I  have  given  you 
the  land  to  possess  it.  .  .  .  But  if  ye  will  not  drive  out  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land  from  before  you  ;  then  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  that  those  which  ye  let  remain  of  them  shall  be 
pricks  in  your  eyes,  and  thorns  in  your  sides,  and  shall  vex 
you  in  the  land  wherein  ye  dwell.  Moreover,  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  that  I  shall  do  unto  you,  as  I  thought  to  do  unto 
them." 


200  THE  PENTATEUCH 

XXXVII.  The  Delimitation  and  Dividers  of  the 
Land  {Num.  xxxiv.). — While  the  eastern  and  western 
borders,  Jordan  and  the  Mediterranean,  are  clear,  the 
northern  and  the  southern,  as  detailed  by  Moses,  are  far  from 
being  so,  in  the  absence  of  all  proper  systematic  exploration 
of  those  parts  with  the  express  object  of  determining  the 
lines.  Few  of  the  localities  here  mentioned  have  been 
identified.  In  the  south  the  Mosaic  frontier  extended  to 
Kadesh-barnea  without  including  it ;  in  the  north  to  "  the 
entrance  of  Hamath."  The  Ordnance  Survey  gives  no  help, 
as  it  stopped  far  short  in  both  north  and  south,  confining 
itself  to  the  later  proverbial  limits  of  Dan  and  Beersheba. 
As  to  the  division  of  the  land,  Moses  directed  that  it  should 
be  carried  out,  under  the  general  superintendence  of  Eleazar 
the  priest,  and  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  by  ten  princes,  one 
from  each  tribe,  with  the  omission  of  Gad  and  Reuben, 
settled  east  of  Jordan.  Each  of  them  was  actually  named 
by  Moses,  Caleb  being  fixed  on  for  Judah.  This  precise 
delimitation,  to  the  minutest  particular,  and  the  dividers  of 
the  land  all  told  ofif,  besides  the  actual  settlement  of  the 
eastern  portions,  must  have  given  the  Israelites  an  impres- 
sion of  certainty  as  to  what  was  coming  to  pass  under  their 
new  leaders.  Moses  thus,  as  it  were,  put  Canaan  into  their 
very  hands. 

XXXVIII.  The  Levitical  Cities  and  Cities  of 
Refuge  {Num.  xxxv.). — Forty-eight  cities,  on  an  average 
four  in  each  tribe,  were  to  be  set  apart  for  the  Levites,  who 
had  no  tribal  portion  of  their  own  like  the  rest,  but  were 
thus  distributed  all  over  the  country.  Every  Levitical 
city  was  to  have  surrounding  it  a  belt  of  land  a  thousand 
cubits  (nearly  six  hundred  yards)  broad  to  serve  as 
pasture  for  its  cattle.  This  was  in  fact  a  landed  endow- 
ment of  the  Tabernacle  and  the  national  religion.  Six  of 
the  forty-eight,  three  on  each  side  of  Jordan,  were  to  be 
cities  of  refuge  for  manslayers,  and  very  particular  directions 
are  laid  down  as  to  the  class  of  persons  to  be  benefited,  as 
well  as  for  guarding  the  institution  from  abuse. 


NUMBERS  20I 

XXXIX.  The  Inheritance  of  Daughters  {Num. 
xxxvi.). — Daughters  inheriting  lands  from  their  fathers  were 
not  to  marr>'  out  of  their  own  tribe,  lest  it  should  result  in 
the  admission  into  it  of  strangers  from  another  tribe.  This 
general  rule  was  made  by  Moses  at  the  instance  of  the  heads 
of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  a  member  of  which,  Zelophehad, 
left  daughters  only  to  inherit  his  lands.  These,  therefore, 
were  married  to  the  sons  of  their  father's  brother,  and  all 
intermingling  of  tribes  was  avoided,  a  matter  reckoned  of 
great  importance.  Where  the  descent  of  landed  estates 
was  not  involved  there  was  no  objection  to  the  intermarrying 
of  tribes. 


DEUTERONOMY 


I.  Title,  Period,  Introduction  {Dent,  i.-iii.).— This  fifth 
portion  of  the  Pentateuch.,  or  Book  of  the  Law.,  was  headed 
by  the  Jews  EUe  haddebdrim,  which  are  the  first  two  Hebrew 
words  of  it,  meaning  These  be  the  words.  For  this  heading 
the  Greek  Septuagint  translators  substituted  one  which 
should  indicate  the  general  contents,  viz.,  Aevrepoi/o/xioi/,  a 
word  denoting  a  repetitio?t  of  the  law.,  evidently,  in  the 
main,  from  the  circumstance  that  the  Ten  Commandments 
are  here  introduced  for  the  second  time,  and  that  very 
prominently,  their  application  and  obligation  being  urgently 
pressed  on  the  Israelites  all  through.  The  Latin  Vulgate 
translators,  while  preserving  the  Greek  title,  made  the  portion 
a  distinct  book,  naming  it  Liber  Deuterono?nn.  The  English 
title,  an  amplification  of  the  Vulgate,  is  The  Fifth  Book  of 
Moses,  called  Deuteronomy.  The  bulk  of  Deuteronomy 
consists  of  a  great  variety  of  miscellaneous  rules,  some 
repeated  and  amplified  from  previous  books,  others  alto- 
gether new,  set  down  without  much  method  or  arrangement ; 
and  as  they  stand  in  the  text  it  is  impossible  to  group  them 
in  any  kind  of  useful  classified  order.  Apparently  they  were 
added  to  the  work  just  as  each  was  called  for  by  the  occasion 
or  was  suggested  to  the  mind  of  the  Lawgiver.  In  this 
respect  they  answer  exactly  to  our  own  printed  collection 
of  the  national  statutes,  where  a  militia  act  may  be  followed 
by  a  church-building  act,  and  that  by  a  turnpike-road  or  a 
vagrancy  act,  each  being  added  to  the  statute-book  as  it 
was  wanted,  or  as  it  was  convenient  to  enact  it.  The  Book 
of  Deuteronomy  has  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  com- 
posed in  the  same  undigested  order,  quite  in  keeping  with 

203 


204  THE  PENTATEUCH 

the  character  of  a  contemporary  work  written  in  a  camp. 
The  time  comprised  by  the  Book  was  about  forty  days,  com- 
puted thus.  The  discourses  began  on  the  first  day  of  the 
eleventh  month  in  the  fortieth  year  after  the  Israelites  came 
out  of  Egypt  (Deut.  i.  3).  About  seventy  days  after  that  the 
Jordan  was  crossed,  since  it  was  on  the  tenth  day  of  the 
first  month  in  the  forty-first  year  (Jos.  iv.  19).  But  thirty 
days  before  the  crossing  Moses  died ;  for  the  Israelites 
mourned  thirty  days  for  him  before  crossing  (Deut.  xxxiv.  8) ; 
thus  leaving  the  first  forty  of  the  seventy  days  for  the  dis- 
courses. By  way  of  introduction  Moses  first  states  the  pre- 
cise time  and  place,  when,  and  where  he  opened  these  his 
last  instructions,  the  time  as  above  mentioned,  the  place  in 
the  land  of  Moab  east  of  Jordan  (i.  1-3).  Then  he  proceeded 
to  take  a  retrospective  view  of  past  events  since  the  departure 
from  Horeb  ;  noticing  the  appointment  of  judges,  the  arrival 
at  Kadesh-bamea,  the  mission  of  the  spies,  the  sentence  of 
a  long  exclusion  from  the  land,  their  presumptuous  attempt 
to  defeat  that  sentence,  their  ignominious  repulse,  their  long 
detention  at  Kadesh,  their  circuitous  journey  round  the 
Edomite  range  in  order  to  reach  another  part  of  Canaan, 
the  crossing  of  Arnon,  the  defeat  of  Sihon  and  of  Og,  the 
allotment  of  their  conquered  territories,  their  arrival  at  the 
spot  where  they  were  encamped  near  the  Jordan.  God  had 
been,  for  His  part,  faithful  to  all  His  promises,  the  fulfilment 
of  which,  long  delayed  by  the  distrustfulness  of  the  nation, 
had  not  been  forfeited. 

II.  Israel's  Future  (Z?^«/.  iv.  1-40). — To  their  prospects 
immediate  and  remote  the  Lawgiver  now  turns  after  having 
recapitulated  their  past.  That  divine  and  hardly  unseen 
hand  which  had  brought  them  thus  far  is  still  nigh  ;  they 
have  in  their  own  experience  now  learned  the  absolute 
certainty  of  God's  word,  equally  in  its  promises  and  its 
warnings  ;  and  if  they  will  but  bear  that  in  constant  remem- 
brance, all  will  be  well.  In  language  that  for  pathos  and 
beauty  is  nowhere  surpassed  in  Holy  Writ,  and  has  not  been 
approached  by  any  other  books  deemed  sacred  in  the  world, 


DEUTERONOMY  205 

the  tones  of  which  those  who  have  early  learned  to  love 
them  carj  never  afterwards  forget,  this  father  of  his  people 
proceeds  in  chapter  after  chapter  to  utter  his  farewell 
charges.  As  to  their  future  security,  it  lies,  in  one  word, 
in  their  obedience  :  (Read  iv.  1-5.)  Then  as  to  their  future 
greatness  he  continues  :  (Read  iv.  5-8.)  Here  is  their  superi- 
ority in  the  world,  that  they  possess  a  holy  law  given  them  by 
God  Himself.  But  one  thing  is  essential,  an  absolute  loyalty 
to  the  covenant  by  which  they  take  the  Lord  for  their  God. 
Their  duty  in  avoiding  idolatry  is  so  clear,  so  unmistakable, 
so  easy,  that  the  ver^^  slightest  deviation  even  in  heart  and 
thought  would  constitute  an  unpardonable  offence.  Let 
them  remember  Horeb  :  (Read  iv.  12-21.)  Israel  was  enter- 
ing a  land  teeming  with  visible  gods.  In  that  respect  a  new 
experience  awaited  them  ;  for  this  generation  never  were  in 
Egypt  where  such  gods  held  possession,  and  the  wilderness 
in  which  they  had  been  brought  up  was  not  occupied  by 
them.  The  dominant  religious  thought  of  the  wilderness 
was  monotheistic.  Ever>'where  that  great  solitude  echoed 
the  voice  of  one  true  God,  and  it  reverberated  in  their  ears 
with  the  Sinaitic  Law,  as  they  had  experienced  in  many  a 
chastisement  ;  through  its  length  and  breadth  for  forty 
years  the  cloud-pillar  and  the  manna  had  accompanied 
them  ;  there  they  drank  of  the  spiritual  rock  which  followed 
them,  and  that  rock  was  Christ  ;  there  all  that  while  the 
Tabernacle  had  sojourned,  and  there  on  Mount  Hor  its  first 
priest  was  resting  in  the  flesh.  To  Israel  the  whole  wilder- 
ness had  been,  in  a  way,  no  other  than  the  house  of  God 
and  the  gate  of  heaven,  in  which  dread  place  they  had  been 
brought  up.  Once,  after  leaving  it,  they  had  been  for  a 
moment,  at  Beth-peor,  in  touch  with  idols  ;  but  in  that  case 
it  was  vicious  indulgence  rather  than  any  religious  system 
that  allured  them.  Henceforth,  it  would  be  different,  and 
idolatr)''  would  appeal  to  their  religious  instincts  as  well  as 
to  the  propensiiies  of  their  sinful  nature,  meeting  them  with 
temples,  priests,  processions,  altars,  worship,  and  image 
forms  of  God.  Now  Israelites  are  warned  that  they  must 
neither  bow  down  to  those  forms  nor  imagine  that  they 


2o6  THE  PENTATEUCH 

might  bow  down  to  their  own  God  through  them.  Their 
thoughts  must  revert  to  the  wilderness  and  its  miraculous 
manifestations.  Before  their  eyes  had  been  God's  attribute 
of  Power,  and  God's  attribute  of  Holiness,  in  every  deliver- 
ance, and  in  every  judgment.  God's  attribute  of  Personality, 
however,  had  never  once  been  revealed  to  their  bodily  eye, 
but  to  their  ear  alone,  to  their  ear  by  words  afterwards 
written  and  recorded  ;  words  declaring  His  character  as 
a  person,  and  proclaiming  Him  the  author  of  that  power 
which  had  divided  the  sea  for  their  passage.  A  holy  one, 
a  gracious  one,  a  deliverer — that  was  to  be  the  ruling  idea  of 
Him  in  their  hearts,  and  they  were  to  fashion  themselves 
into  copies  of  Him.  Inspired  words,  recorded  in  writing  by 
the  hand  of  Moses,  they  were  to  be  the  memorials  of  Him  ; 
they  alone,  and  not  a  form  of  any  kind  drawn  from  their 
own  imagination — for  as  to  any  authoritative  form,  there 
was  absolutely  not  one.  Every  attempt,  therefore,  to  portray 
God's  personality  by  human  art  was  peremptorily  forbidden. 
It  would  necessarily  degrade  that  personality,  and  by  conse- 
quence degrade  man.  Israel  had  been  taught  that  all  things 
in  visible  nature  before  their  eyes  were  the  work  of  God's 
hand,  from  the  creeping  worm  to  the  glorious  sun,  and  none 
of  them  could  possibly  be  God.  To  worship  their  dead  imi- 
tations of  these  things  was  a  thousandfold  more  insulting. 
Such  imitations  too  !  Their  revolting  conceptions,  their 
rude,  their  hideous  execution,  in  the  infancy  of  the  arts, 
were  enough  to  move  scorn  and  derision  ;  while  as  soon  as 
man  had  acquired  true  artistic  skill  to  shape  out  things  of 
beauty,  their  gods  and  goddesses  so  designed  might  be  exe- 
cuted by  the  most  corrupt  of  artists  to  stimulate  the  basest 
passions  of  those  admitted  to  worship  them,  as  it  was  called. 
In  mercy  to  man  God  allowed  Himself  to  be  heard  but  never 
seen,  prior  to  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son.  He  encouraged 
no  pretence  of  any  authorised  exhibition  of  His  personality, 
and  more  especially  He  forbade  it  to  Israel.  Israel  was 
God's  inheritance,  holy  as  God  was  holy  ;  and  by  an 
expressive  word,  "jealousy,"  He  declared  every  attempt  to 
dishonour  Him  and  corrupt  them  as  a  provocation  past 


DEUTERONOMY  207 

forgiveness.  Loyalty  to  their  God,  as  against  idol  worship, 
was  then  the  sole  condition  of  Israel's  continued  possession 
of  this  land.  On  that  question  God  declared  Himself 
"jealous,"  or  absolutely  uncompromising,  and  expulsion 
would  prove  the  certain  consequence  of  any  incorrigible 
national  failure.  In  case  of  that  punishment  ever  befalling 
the  nation,  re-admission  was  assured  to  them  on  repent- 
ance, I.e.,  on  reformation,  which  repentance  means.  Such  a 
restoration  was  in  fact  guaranteed  by  the  great  redemption 
by  which  they  were  brought  out  of  Egypt  and  planted  in 
Canaan,  a  grace  that  should  never  prove  in  vain  when 
God's  "inheritance"  appealed  to  it  in  a  right  spirit. 

Ill,  Three  Cities  of  Refuge  {De7i/.  iv.  41-43)- — In 
Num.  XXXV.  9-34  Moses  was  commanded  to  set  apart  six 
cities,  there  called  Cities  of  Refuge^  three  on  each  side  of 
Jordan,  and  the  design  of  them  is  there  explained  in  detail. 
The  three  eastern  cities  are  now  specified,  Bezer  in  the  tribe 
of  Reuben,  Ramoth  in  Gilead  belonging  to  Gad,  Golan  in 
Bashan  to  Manasseh.  Bezer  has  not  been  identified. 
Ramoth  in  Gilead  is  usually  placed  at  the  modern  city  of 
Salt.  Golan  remains  unknown,  but  is  considered  to  have 
given  the  name  of  Gaulo?iitis  to  a  district  frequently  men- 
tioned in  after  times.  In  a  later  chapter  of  Deuteronomy 
(xix.  1-13)  some  further  rules  were  added.  There  were  to 
be  three  additional  cities,  making  nine  in  all,  in  case  the 
Israelite  dominions  should  be  enlarged  to  their  fullest  extent 
in  consequence  of  the  nation's  obedience.  If  the  man-slayer 
was  known  to  be  a  murderer,  not  entitled  to  the  benefit  of 
this  institution,  the  elders  of  his  city  were  to  fetch  him  home 
and  deliver  him  to  the  avenger  of  blood. 

IV.  The  Decalogue  Recited  {Deut.  iv.  44-v.  33). — 
Here  more  properly  begins  that  special  feature  of  this  book 
which  occasioned  its  being  named  in  later  times  Deuter- 
ono7ny^  a  repetition  of  the  Law.  Not  at  the  foot  of  Sinai 
but  in  the  valley  over  against  Beth-peor,  in  view  of  Canaan, 
the  new  generation  of  Israel  heard  with  their  own  ears  the 


2o8  THE  PENTATEUCH 

laws  and  regulations  which  they  were  brought  there  to 
plant  within  that  land  ;  and  Moses,  who  had  delivered  the 
two  tables  to  their  fathers,  had  been  spared  thus  solemnly 
to  recite  them.  The  Decalogue  was  the  covenant  made  by 
God  with  Israel  in  Horeb  ;  i.e.  the  condition  on  which  they 
were  to  be  admitted  into  the  promised  land.  In  the  recital 
on  the  present  occasion,  the  Ten  Laws  are  almost,  but  not 
absolutely,  verbatim  those  of  Exod.  xx.  In  the  fourth,  for 
instance,  the  reason  for  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath, 
namely  as  commemorating  the  Rest  of  creation,  is  omitted, 
and  instead  of  it  Moses  pressed  upon  the  people  the  rest 
given  them  by  God  from  their  Egyptian  bondage  as  a  great 
motive  for  observing  and  loving  the  day.  After  the  recital 
Moses  added  something  which  he  had  not  recorded  before, 
namely,  the  impression  made  on  the  people  by  what  they 
had  heard  at  Sinai.  They  said  to  Moses  :  "  We  have  seen 
this  day  that  God  doth  talk  with  man  and  he  liveth.  Now 
therefore  why  should  we  die  ?  For  this  great  fire  will  con- 
sume us.  If  we  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord  our  God  any 
more  then  we  shall  die.  .  .  .  Go  thou  near  and  hear  all  that 
the  Lord  our  God  shall  say  ;  and  speak  thou  unto  us  all 
that  the  Lord  our  God  shall  speak  unto  thee,  and  we  will 
hear  it  and  do  it."  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  Moses  :  "  I 
have  heard  the  voice  of  the  words  of  this  people  which  they 
have  spoken  unto  thee.  They  have  well  said  all  that  they 
have  spoken.  O  that  there  were  such  an  heart  in  them  that 
they  would  fear  me  and  keep  all  my  commandments  always, 
that  it  might  be  well  with  them  and  with  their  children  for 
ever ! "  Something  yet  further  arose  from  this  incident 
which  Moses  took  occasion  to  mention  later  on. 

V.  God  to  be  Loved  {Deut.  vi.  4,  5). — "  Hear,  O  Israel ; 
the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  ;  and  thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  might."  The  imaginary  beings  whom  the 
pagans  of  old  learnt  to  believe  in  were  never  set  before 
them  as  objects  of  love  ;  while  as  to  present-day  heathen 
the  entire  absence  of  signs  of  love  for  their  gods  is  quite 


DEUTERONOMY  209 

conspicuous  ;  they  are  often  deeply  touched  on  first  hearing 
from  a  Christian  that  God  loves  them,  and  desires  their 
love  equally  with  their  fear.  Even  the  New  Testament 
does  not  more  urgently  inculcate  the  same  sentiment,  on 
the  same  principle,  the  priority  of  God's  love  to  man,  than 
does  the  above  passage,  which  is  cited  by  our  Lord  Himself 
(St.  Matt.  xxii.  37),  and  many  another  in  the  Old  Testament  ; 
nor,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  face  of  apostasy  and  wilful  sin, 
are  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  more  solemnly  appealed  to  in 
the  Mosaic  Scriptures  than  in  the  Apostolic  and  Evangelic. 

VL  A  Tradition  for  Future  Times  (Deuf.  vi.  20-25). 
— An  Israelite  in  future  days  might  be  ready  to  ask  why 
God  should  have  put  the  nation  under  so  elaborate  a  system, 
when  the  simplest  ritual  had  sufficed  for  patriarchal  days 
and  for  Israel  since.  This  passage  answered  that  question 
beforehand,  and  would  form  an  authentic  tradition  from 
father  to  son  from  one  generation  to  another.  As  slaves 
in  Egypt  they  could  hardly  have  maintained  the  clear  views 
of  divine  revelation  enjoyed  by  the  patriarchs,  and  were  in 
danger  of  absorption  into  the  heathen  world.  To  bring 
them  nearer  to  God,  and  for  their  own  happiness,  they 
needed  a  training  such  as  the  Mosaic  system  could  supply. 
The  tradition  in  Israel  then  would  be  this,  that  they  were 
chosen  out  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  in  order  to  reach 
a  higher  level  of  knowing  and  serving  God  ;  so  that  to 
become  amalgamated  with  the  heathen  around  would  be 
their  dishonour  as  well  as  their  destruction.  Their  mission 
in  the  world  was  to  testify  to  the  existence,  the  unity,  the 
righteous  government  of  God  their  Creator,  and  that  right- 
eousness alone  exalteth  a  nation. 

VII.  Why  the  Canaanites  must  be  Rooted  Out 
{Deut.  vii.  1-16). — The  Caananites  who  resisted  with  arms 
were  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  reason  given  was  for  Israel  a 
most  humiliating  one.  For  notwithstanding  the  barbarities 
and  loathsome  impurities  of  the  Canaanite  idolatry,  Israel 
was  not  to  be  trusted  in  any  social   footing  among  that 

s.  T.  O 


210  THE  PENTATEUCH 

people,  lest  they  should  apostatise  to  them  from  their  own 
holy  law.  In  any  intermingling  Israel  would  not  purify 
Canaan  ;  Canaan  would  corrupt  Israel.  The  worse  in- 
fluence, not  the  better,  would  prevail.  It  is  hardly  possible 
to  state  in  a  more  forcible  way  the  fatal  bias  of  human 
nature  towards  evil.  The  injunction  ran :  "  And  when 
the  Lord  thy  God  shall  deliver  them  before  thee  ;  thou  shalt 
smite  them  and  utterly  destroy  them  :  thou  shalt  make  no 
covenant  with  them,  nor  show  mercy  unto  them  :  neither 
shalt  thou  make  marriages  with  them  ;  thy  daughter  thou 
shalt  not  give  unto  his  son,  nor  his  daughter  shalt  thou  take 
unto  thy  son.  For  they  will  turn  away  thy  son  from  follow- 
ing Me,  that  they  may  serve  other  gods  ;  so  will  the  anger 
of  the  Lord  be  kindled  against  you,  and  destroy  thee 
suddenly.  But  thus  shall  ye  deal  with  them  ;  ye  shall 
destroy  their  altars,  and  break  down  their  images,  and  cut 
down  their  groves,  and  burn  their  graven  images  with  fire  : 
for  thou  art  an  holy  people  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  :  the 
Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a  special  people  unto 
Himself,  above  all  people  that  are  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth." 

VIII.  The  Conquest  will  be  God's  {Deut  vii.  17-26). 
— It  would  also  be  by  a  gradual  process  and  a  continued 
struggle,  which  should  test  their  own  perseverance,  trust  in 
God,  and  fidelity. 

IX.  The  Wilderness  to  be  Remembered.  (Read 
Deuf.  viii.). — The  goal  was  now  before  them.  "  The  Lord 
thy  God  bringeth  thee  into  a  good  land,  a  land  of  brooks  of 
water,  of  fountains  and  depths  that  spring  out  of  valleys  and 
hills  ;  a  land  of  wheat,  and  barley,  and  vines,  and  fig  trees, 
and  pomegranates  ;  a  land  of  oil  olive,  and  honey  ;  a  land 
wherein  thou  shalt  eat  bread  without  scarceness,  thou  shalt 
not  ack  anything  in  it  ;  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron,  and 
out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayest  dig  brass."  In  enjoyment  of 
all  those  bounties  still  less  should  they  forget  Egypt,  and 
the  wilderness,   and  the  forty  years,  or  dare  to  take  the 


DEUTERONOMY  211 

credit  of  possession  to  themselves.  To  forget  the  wilder- 
ness in  the  hour  of  their  fulness  were  to  forget  God  Himself 
and  the  Covenant.  "  And  it  shall  be,  if  thou  do  at  all  for- 
get the  Lord  thy  God  and  walk  after  other  gods  and  serve 
them  and  worship  them,  I  testify  against  you  this  day  that 
ye  shall  surely  perish.  As  the  nations  which  the  Lord 
destroyeth  before  your  face,  so  shall  ye  perish  ;  because  ye 
would  not  be  obedient  unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord  your 
God."  To  forget  God  and  God's  hand  at  the  very  moment 
of  enjoying  His  bounties,  and  to  bow  prostrate  to  the  visible 
gods  His  flattest  contradiction,  would  be  an  offence  to  be 
expiated  only  by  a  re-expulsion  into  the  desert.  For  a 
people  betraying  its  trust  so  grossly  to  be  left  in  triumphant 
possession  where  their  predecessors,  hardly  worse,  had  been 
disinherited,  would  be  an  intolerable  justification  of  the 
world's  worst  imputations  against  the  righteousness  of  God. 

X.  Not  for  their  Righteousness  {Deuf.  ix.).— The 
conquest  of  Canaan  was  to  come  about  no  more  as  a  reward 
for  Israel's  goodness  than  as  the  result  of  Israel's  prowess. 
In  most  emphatic  terms  Moses  asserted  that  the  victory 
would  be  God's,  and  by  them  wholly  unmerited.  In  spite 
of  all  that  was  said  in  Numbers,  "  I  have  not  seen  perverse- 
ness  in  Israel,"  it  remained  a  dismal  fact  that  they  were  a 
stiff-necked  people  all  along.  Deuteronomy  declares  what 
they  were ;  Numbers,  what  they  were  forgiven.  (Read 
vers.  1-7.)  On  one  example  of  their  perv^erseness  he 
especially  dilated,  that  aggravated  offence  of  which  they 
were  guilty,  when  he  broke  the  very  tables  of  the  law  before 
their  eyes,  and  ground  their  infamous  idol  to  dust.  The 
names  of  Taberah,  Massah,  Kibroth-hattaavah,  Kadesh- 
barnea,  recalled  other  rebellions.  "  Ye  have  been  rebellious 
against  the  Lord  from  the  day  that  I  knew  you."  Moses, 
in  short,  took  the  same  pains  to  caution  the  nation  of  his 
day  against  all  idea  of  their  own  merits,  and  to  make  them 
understand  that  their  new  possession,  and  even  their  own 
existence,  were  of  God's  unmerited  gift,  granted  to  his  own 
intercession  with  a  confession  of  their  sins,  that  St.  Paul  in 


212  THE  PENTATEUCH 

apostolic  days  took  to  impress  upon  the  infant  church  that 
their  entry  into  God's  kingdom  was  through  Christ,  by 
faith,  and  of  grace  ;  "  not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast "  (Eph.  ii.  9). 

XI.  The  Service  of  Love  {Deut.  x.). — God's  continued 
favour  after  all  those  rebellions,  His  restoring  the  tables  of 
the  law  to  accompany  the  Ark,  His  continuing  the  priesthood 
in  Aaron's  line  after  Aaron's  fall,  His  separating  Levi  to  bear 
the  Ark  and  its  precious  contents,  permitting  the  nation's 
advance  from  the  scene  of  its  disgrace  towards  the  promised 
land — all  this  grace,  this  unmerited  favour,  is  made  the 
ground  of  a  further  appeal  to  Israel's  heart,  their  heart  of 
love,  their  heart  of  fear.     (Read  x.  12,  13,  20,  21.) 

XII.  The  Fertilising  of  Canaan  {Deut.  xi.  1-17).— 
Israel  is  to  understand  that  besides  the  conquest  of  Canaan, 
its  subsequent  fruitfulness  also  will  in  a  very  special  manner 
depend  on  the  favour  of  God,  a  favour  which  will  be  regu- 
lated by  their  obedience.  The  fertility  of  Canaan  as  a  land 
of  milk  and  honey  is  not  to  be  reckoned  on  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  as  resulting  from  a  blind  law  of  nature.  If  the 
conditions  on  which  the  Israelites  are  to  be  established  in 
the  land  are  violated,  a  discontinuance  of  that  fertility  must 
be  looked  for.  Having  plainly  laid  down  those  terms, 
Moses  proceeded  in  illustration  to  show  the  natural  causes 
to  which  the  fertility  of  Canaan  was  owing,  as  contrasted 
with  the  causes  of  that  of  Egypt,  which  they  knew  more 
about.  In  the  fertilisation  of  Egypt  man  had  a  great  share. 
The  level  surface,  where  it  seldom  rained,  was  watered  by 
the  overflow  of  the  Nile  once  in  every  year,  filling  innumer- 
able canals  by  which  the  inhabitants,  retaining  the  waters 
after  the  subsidence  of  the  river,  continually  fed  the  land. 
The  irrigation  of  Egypt  was  thus  an  elaborate  system  of  arti- 
ficial works,  demanding  the  incessant  attention  of  man.  In 
the  mountainous  country  of  Palestine  man  has  comparatively 
little  to  do  in  bringing  the  water  in  contact  with  his  fields. 
He  depends  upon  the  rainfall  at  two  special  seasons  of  the 


DEUTERONOMY  213 

year,  the  early  and  the  later,  to  feed  springs,  fill  hollows  and 
tanks,  and  swell  the  grain.  The  Nile  overflow,  though 
occasionally  deficient,  never  actually  failed  altogether  ;  the 
rainfall  in  Palestine,  the  earlier  or  the  later,  sometimes  did. 
The  warning  then  ran  thus  : — (Read  xi.  10-18.) 

XIII.  Their  Constant  Open  Profession  (Deu/.  xi. 
18-21). — Being  so  absolutely  dependent,  as  tenants  at  will, 
so  to  speak,  Israel  was  in  an  especial  manner  required  to 
keep  the  terms  of  their  tenure  perpetually  before  them  in 
public  and  private  life,  while  every  younger  generation  in 
its  turn  was  to  be  taught  them  and  preoccupied  with  them. 
Besides  having  those  divine  injunctions  buried  in  the  in- 
visible recesses  of  the  heart,  the  members  of  this  wondrous 
nation  were  to  profess  them  to  the  whole  world  on  their 
persons  and  their  abodes.  What  among  other  peoples  were 
mere  amulets,  or  bracelets,  or  frontlets,  for  hand  or  forehead, 
were  with  them  to  be  decorative  texts  from  the  sacred  word. 
The  very  entrances  of  their  homes  were  to  be  inscribed  in  a 
similar  manner.  Thus  the  whole  land  and  the  whole  people 
were  to  declare  to  all  men  and  to  one  another,  whose  they 
were  and  whom  they  served.  The  119th  Psalm  shows  itself 
to  have  been  written  among  a  people  thus  trained,  by  one 
having  the  secret  love  as  well  as  the  outward  profession. 
Thus  Moses  enjoined:  "Therefore  shall  ye  lay  up  these 
my  words  in  your  heart,  and  in  your  soul,  and  bind  them 
for  a  sign  upon  your  hand,  that  they  may  be  as  frontlets 
between  your  eyes.  And  ye  shall  teach  them  your  children, 
speaking  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when 
thou  walkest  by  the  way,  when  thou  liest  down  and  when 
thou  risest  up.  And  thou  shalt  write  them  upon  the  door- 
posts of  thine  house,  and  upon  thy  gates  :  that  your  days 
may  be  multiplied,  and  the  days  of  your  children,  in  the  land 
which  the  Lord  sware  unto  your  fathers  to  give  them,  as  the 
days  of  heaven  upon  the  earth." 

XIV.  One  Central  Altar  for  Canaan  (Deu/.  xii.).— 
The  places  and  monuments  of  idolatrous  worship  were  to 


214  THE  PENTATEUCH 

be  destroyed  ;  the  whole  apparatus  of  idol  religion  to  be 
swept  away  ;  the  heights  whereupon  the  heavens  were  in- 
sulted by  it  were  to  be  cleared,  and  the  groves  which 
harboured  all  its  impurities  to  be  given  to  the  flames.  This 
injunction,  expressly  given  to  Israel  to  be  observed  in  Canaan 
alone,  is  no  guide  for  other  nations  or  churches.  In  modern 
Christian  missions  the  only  allowable  proceeding  is  to  con- 
vince the  devotees  of  the  vanity  of  idols,  until  they  learn 
themselves  to  become  their  destroyers.  "  Ye  shall  surely 
destroy  all  the  places  wherein  the  nations  which  ye  shall 
possess  served  their  gods,  upon  the  high  mountains,  and 
upon  the  hills,  and  under  every  green  tree  ;  and  ye  shall 
overthrow  their  altars,  and  break  their  pillars,  and  burn  their 
groves  with  fire  ;  and  ye  shall  hew  down  the  graven  images 
of  their  gods,  and  destroy  the  names  of  them  out  of  that 
place.".  As  if  to  exclude  all  possible  danger  of  Israelite 
worship  being  partially  carried  on  in  the  places  of  the  de- 
stroyed idols,  and  of  the  heathen  altars  being  converted  into 
Israelite  ones,  the  law  enjoined  in  the  strictest  manner  that 
there  was  to  be  one  central  altar  for  the  whole  nation  at  a 
selected  place,  and  no  others.  The  idea  of  any  spot  having 
acquired  a  sacredness  from  its  pagan  associations  in  the  past 
was  out  of  the  question,  and  no  true  Israelite  could  entertain 
it  for  one  moment.  Anything  that  would  interfere  with  the 
unity  of  worship,  or  tend  in  the  least  degree  to  break  it  up, 
was  sternly  forbidden  ;  hill-altars  and  grove-altars  at  every 
one's  option  were  peremptorily  condemned.  "Ye  shall  not 
do  so  unto  the  Lord  your  God.  But  unto  the  place  which 
the  Lord  your  God  shall  choose  out  of  all  your  tribes  to  put 
His  name  there,  even  unto  His  habitation  shall  ye  seek,  and 
thither  shalt  thou  come  ;  and  thither  shall  ye  bring  your 
burnt-offerings  and  your  sacrifices,  and  your  tithes.  .  .  .  And 
there  shall  ye  eat  before  the  Lord  your  God,  and  ye  shall 
rejoice  in  all  that  ye  put  your  hand  unto,  ye  and  your  house- 
holds, wherein  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  blessed  thee."  Care- 
ful attention  to  these  prohibitions  makes  it  clear  that  Moses 
had  in  his  view  the  stated  public  worship  of  Israel  as  estab- 
lished at  Sinai  :  the  national  worship  was  not  to  be  set  up  in 


DEUTERONOMY  215 

plurality  (see  Josh,  xxii,  10  to  end).  Any  thought  of  prohibit- 
ing an  occasional  sacrifice  in  circumstances  which  seemed 
to  call  for  one  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  and  where  a  resort 
to  the  Tabernacle  was  out  of  the  question,  such  as  Gideon's, 
Samuel's,  Elijah's  offerings,  was  outside  his  intention.  Those 
sacrifices  were  avowedly  but  occasional  and  temporary,  with- 
out the  slightest  risk  of  their  starting  a  rival  national  worship. 
The  altars  which  Moses  had  distinctly  in  view  were  of  another 
type  altogether,  like  those  set  up  in  after  times  by  King 
Jeroboam  at  Dan  and  Bethel.  The  distinction  is  to  be  care- 
fully borne  in  mind,  since  it  has  been  suggested  that  when 
Gideon,  Samuel,  Elijah  reared  their  altars,  no  rule  for  one 
central  altar  existed  ;  in  other  w^ords,  that  Deuteronomy, 
which  forbade  a  plurality  of  altars,  had  not  yet  been  written, 
in  short,  was  not  written  by  Moses  at  all,  nor  in  his  time, 
but  ages  later.  The  suggestion  is  entirely  gratuitous.  The 
occasional  altars  of  those  eminent  Israelites  offer  no  diffi- 
culties, need  no  explanation. 

XV.  Enticers  to  Idolatry  {De?a.  xiii.).— On  so  plain 
and  obvious  a  matter  as  idol  worship,  where  there  could  be 
no  possible  ground  for  misapprehension,  God's  word,  as 
revealed  through  Moses,  was  to  be  followed,  even  against 
miraculous  evidence  to  the  contrary.  However  real  a 
miracle  might  seem,  or  even  might  be,  it  was  to  be  no 
excuse  or  justification  for  an  act  of  idolatry.  If  a  real 
miracle,  it  was  permitted  by  God  as  a  test  of  obedience  to 
a  plain  command.  The  art  of  man  in  imitating  the  super- 
natural has  been  in  all  ages  so  remarkable  that  ordinary 
people  might  well  be  pardoned  for  a  lack  of  skill  in  detect- 
ing the  imposture,  where  it  was  one.  Yet  they  are  plainly 
warned  that  that  will  make  no  difference.  Even  granting 
the  miracle,  an  appeal  in  favour  of  idolatry  must  be  rejected 
absolutely  and  unhesitatingly.  "  If  there  arise  among  you  a 
prophet,  or  a  dreamer  of  dreams,  and  giveth  thee  a  sign  or  a 
wonder,  and  the  sign  or  the  wonder  come  to  pass,  whereof  he 
spake  unto  thee,  saying,  Let  us  go  after  other  gods,  .  .  .  thou 
shalt  not  hearken  unto  the  words  of  that  prophet,  or  tha,t 


216  THE  PENTATEUCH 

dreamer  of  dreams  ;  for  the  Lord  your  God  proveth  you,  to 
know  whether  ye  love  the  Lord  your  God,  with  all  your  heart 
and  with  all  your  soul.  .  .  .  And  that  prophet,  or  that  dreamer 
of  dreams,  shall  be  put  to  death  ;  because  he  hath  spoken  to 
turn  you  away  from  the  Lord  your  God."  Even  if  the  enticer 
should  be  the  dearest  relative  or  a  bosom  friend,  he  is  to  be 
handed  to  the  authorities  without  pity.  If  a  town  has  been 
enticed  to  idolatry,  it  is  to  be  given  to  the  flames  and  its 
inhabitants  put  to  the  sword,  like  any  idol  city  of  Canaan. 
There  was  to  be  no  distinction  of  persons,  no  partiality 
shown  to  an  Israelite  town.  Thus  utterly  and  indiscrimi- 
nately was  the  epidemic  of  idolatry  to  be  stamped  out. 

XVI.  Tithe  (Deuf.  xiv.  22-29). — The  tenth  of  the  produce 
of  the  ground  was  to  be  employed  in  two  ways,  constituting 
annual  and  triennial  tithe.  Annual  tithe  was  to  be  conveyed 
two  years  following  to  the  Tabernacle,  and  there  feasted 
on  in  company  with  the  Levites,  to  whose  support  it  thus 
contributed.  Should  the  Tabernacle  be  far  distant  and  the 
tithe  a  heavy  load  to  transport,  it  might  be  turned  into 
money  and  other  material  purchased  at  the  Tabernacle. 
Triennial  tithe,  falling  every  third  year,  instead  of  being 
taken  to  the  Tabernacle,  was  to  be  employed  at  home  in 
hospitality,  to  which  were  to  be  invited  the  Levite,  the 
stranger,  the  fatherless,  the  widow.  In  these  ways  tithe 
constituted  what  we  should  call  a  church-rate  and  a  poor- 
rate,  the  mode  of  its  contribution  being  brotherly,  neigh- 
bourly, and  religious. 

XVII.  The  Debtor's  Release  (Z>^z//.  xv.  i-ii). — "At 
the  end  of  every  seven  years  thou  shalt  make  a  release.  .  .  . 
Every  creditor  that  lendeth  ought  unto  his  neighbour  shall 
release  it ;  he  shall  not  exact  it  of  his  neighbour,  or  of  his 
brother  ;  because  it  is  called  the  Lord's  release."  This  law 
applied  not  to  trade  debts,  but  to  loans  borrowed  in  poverty 
by  an  Israelite,  not  by  a  stranger.  Commentators  understand 
that  repayment  of  the  debt  could  only  not  be  enforced  in 
the  year  of  release,  and  that  at  the  end  of  it  the  lender's 


DEUTERONOMY  217 

claim  revived.  The  Israelite  is  exhorted  not  to  be  so  un- 
feeling as  to  withhold  a  loan  on  account  of  a  proximity  of 
the  year  of  release.  A  liberal  spirit  would  bring  its  reward. 
"  Thou  shalt  surely  give  him,  and  thine  heart  shall  not  be 
grieved  when  thou  givest  unto  him  ;  because  that  for  this 
thing  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bless  thee  in  all  thy  works, 
and  in  all  that  thou  puttest  thine  hand  unto.  For  the  poor 
shall  never  cease  out  of  the  land  :  therefore  I  command  thee, 
saying,  Thou  shalt  open  thine  hand  wide  unto  thy  brother, 
to  thy  poor,  and  to  thy  needy,  in  thy  land." 

XVIII.  The  Servant's  Release  (/?<?«/.  xv.  12-18).— A 
Hebrew  servant  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  servitude  must  be 
sent  forth  free  unless  he  prefer  to  abide  in  his  condition,  in 
which  case  he  must  submit  to  having  his  ear  bored  with  an 
awl,  in  token  of  his  preferring  perpetual  bondage.  The  rule 
is  a  repetition  of  that  enjoined  in  Exod.  xxi.  2-6,  except  that 
it  is  now  extended  to  women  servants  ;  and  it  is  added  that 
the  servant,  in  case  of  accepting  freedom,  must  be  liberally 
furnished  with  gifts.  As  a  motive  to  bestow  them  un- 
grudgingly, and  the  freedom  besides,  the  lawgiver  urges  : 
"  Thou  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  a  bondman  in  Egypt, 
and  the  Lord  thy  God  redeemed  thee  ; "  and  we  cannot 
avoid  remarking  that  the  frequency  with  which  the  Egyptian 
deliverance  is  incidentally  interposed  at  every  turn  through- 
out the  Book  is  in  entire  keeping  with  the  profession  it 
makes  of  having  been  composed  by  Moses  himself  when 
the  Egyptian  deliverance  was  fresh  in  the  memory  of  all. 

XIX.  Three  Chief  Festivals  (Deia.  xvi.  1-17). — Out 
of  the  seven  festivals  mentioned  in  Lev.  xxiii.,  three,  not 
there  distinguished  from  the  rest,  were  selected  for  special 
honour,  viz.  :  Passover,  Pentecost,  and  Tabernacles.  These, 
and  only  these,  were  to  be  kept  at  the  Tabernacle  by  all 
the  males  of  Israel,  assembled  there  for  the  occasion.  It 
was  reserved  for  Deuteronomy  (repeating  Exod.  xxiii.  14  ; 
xxxiv.  23)  to  emphasise  this,  it  being  one  special  object 
of  that  Book  to  promote  in  a  most  particular  manner  the 


21 8  THE  PENTATEUCH 

unity  of  the  national  altar  and  worship  at  one  fixed  centre. 
The  injunction  to  attend  is  limited  to  men,  but  women 
might  be  there  likewise,  i.  The  Passover  (vers,  i -8).  For 
this  festival,  and  for  that  of  Unleavened  Bread,  which  ac- 
companied it,  many  directions  had  already  been  given  (Exod. 
xii.  1-27  ;  Lev.  xxiii.  5-8  ;  Num.  ix.  1-14).  The  original 
injunction  was  that  the  lamb  should  be  killed  and  eaten  as 
a  family  meal  in  each  separate  home,  under  the  direction  of 
the  head  of  the  house.  It  is  called  a  sacrifice  in  Exod.  xii. 
27  ;  but  as  there  was  yet  no  altar  enjoined,  that  term  is 
employed  in  an  unusual  sense.  The  feast  in  Egypt  was 
kept  in  the  only  way  practicable  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
moment.  Unleavened  bread  was  eaten  for  at  least  six 
days  afterwards  on  the  march.  The  next  celebration,  the 
only  one  recorded  in  the  wilderness,  was  at  Sinai  (Num.  ix. 
1-5),  but  there  are  no  details  of  the  way  in  which  it  was 
obsei-ved.  The  term  offering,  however,  is  applied  to  it. 
The  settlement  in  Canaan  involved  many  new  circumstances, 
in  accordance  with  which  Moses  now  in  Deuteronomy 
modified  the  rule  in  some  particulars.  In  regard  to  the 
lamb,  the  central  figure  of  the  whole  service,  the  day  and 
hour  of  the  meal,  the  seven  days'  duration,  including  the 
feast  of  unleavened  bread,  no  change  was  made  ;  the  pass- 
over  in  Canaan  was  to  be  substantially  a  copy  of  the 
passover  in  Egypt  and  the  wilderness.  It  was,  however, 
specially  enjoined  that  the  festival  was  not  to  be  kept  at  the 
people's  tribal  homes  but  at  the  central  Tabernacle.  This 
was  really  an  immaterial  change,  for  instead  of  the  family 
home  in  Reuben  or  Naphtali,  it  was  the  family  tent 
brought  to  Shiloh  ;  it  was  the  family  still,  and  that  was 
the  main  point.  Another  apparent  change  occurs  in  this 
passage  :  "Thou  shalt  sacrifice  the  passover  of  the  flock 
and  the  herd  ; "  whereas  originally  it  was  a  lamb  or  a  kid. 
Here  we  observe  that  each  day  of  the  feast  of  unleavened 
bread  had  its  sacrifice  (Lev.  xxviii.  17-19),  supplied  from 
"  the  herd,"  as  the  lambs  would  be  from  "  the  flock."  The 
whole  seven  days'  solemnity  was  called  in  a  wider  sense 
the  Passover  from   the  initial  and  dominant  portion  of  it. 


DEUTERONOMY  219 

"  Thou  shalt  sacrifice  the  passover  of  the  flock  and  the 
herd  .  .  .  seven  days  shah  thou  eat  unleavened  bread 
therewith"  (cf.  2  Chron.  xxxv.  9).  2.  Feast  of  Pentecost, 
here  called  Feast  of  Weeks  (vers.  9-13).  Deuteronomy  adds 
nothing  new  as  to  the  mode  of  celebration,  but  lays  the 
greatest  stress  on  its  being  held  at  the  Tabernacle,  and  its 
festivities  being  shared  with  the  Levite,  the  stranger,  the 
fatherless,  and  the  widow.  3.  Feast  of  Tabernacles  (vers. 
13-15).  As  before,  there  is  a  special  injunction  for  this 
festival  to  be  held  at  the  Tabernacle,  where  was  to  be  re- 
joicing before  God,  in  which  sons,  daughters,  servants, 
Levites,  strangers,  orphans,  widows,  were  to  participate. 

XX.  The  Future  King  {Detd.  xvii.  14-20).— Upon  this 
statement  we  observe  :  (i.)  A  king  is  not  commanded,  nor 
recommended,  nor  yet  forbidden,  but  allowed.  (2.)  He  must 
be  one  chosen  by  God.  (3.)  He  is  to  be  an  Israelite,  not  a 
stranger.  (4.)  The  multiplication  of  horses,  not  required  for 
peaceful  pui"poses  in  Canaan,  would  imply  warlike  schemes, 
and  commerce  with  Egypt  (where  horses  were  principally 
reared),  and  on  both  accounts  would  be  bad  for  the  nation  ; 
but  it  was  one  of  the  temptations  of  royalty.  (5.)  Excessive 
polygamy,  and  an  accumulation  of  treasure,  which  again 
were  temptations  of  royalty,  would  lead  to  luxurious  living, 
the  deterioration  of  the  female  sex,  laxity  of  morals,  the 
introduction  of  foreign  pagan  women,  and  idolatry.  (6.)  The 
transcription  of  the  Law,  not  necessarily  by  the  king's  own 
hand,  was  an  intimation  that  on  no  account  was  the  regal 
constitution  to  supersede  or  interfere  with  the  fundamental 
enactments  delivered  by  Moses,  but  must  adapt  itself  to 
them  absolutely.  It  may  not  have  been  intended  that  each 
successor  on  the  throne  should  have  a  new  copy,  but  there 
was  always  to  be  one  in  good  condition  in  the  hands  of  the 
king,  besides  that  in  custody  of  the  priests,  and  independently 
of  it,  so  that  both  branches  of  the  state,  the  civil  and  the  eccle- 
siastical, should  be  bound  equally  to  govern  themselves  by 
the  divine  law,  and  should  concur  in  faithfully  carr>'ing  out 
every  syllable  of  its  enactments.     Thus  it  would  be  provided 


220  THE  PENTATEUCH 

that  all  the  regulations  in  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  Deuter- 
onomy, in  the  letter  and  in  the  spirit,  should  be  maintained  ; 
that  the  centre  of  worship  should  ever  continue  where  God 
appointed,  without  any  second  altar  ;  in  short,  that  the  king 
and  his  whole  authority  and  power  must  exist  for  the  nation 
and  its  law,  not  these  for  him.  Should  the  relations  ever 
become  reversed,  the  king  and  his  kingdom  together  would 
be  discarded.  (7.)  Moses  contemplated  a  future  in  which  the 
people  themselves  should  desire  a  king,  not  one  in  which 
some  powerful  individual  should  grasp  sovereign  authority 
over  them. 

That  Moses  should  have  surmised  a  future  desire  for  regal 
government  was  anything  but  strange.  Not  only  were 
people  everywhere  at  that  time  ruled  by  kings,  but  he  was 
himself  in  all  essential  respects  a  king,  and  Israel  was  at 
that  very  moment,  as  it  had  been  for  forty  years,  under  a 
monarchical  administration.  Moses  (as  many  interpret)  was 
king  in  Jeshurun  (xxxiii.  5).  He  knew  there  could  be  no 
one  who  would  succeed  him  in  all  respects,  and  that  authority 
in  some  degree  monarchical,  would  follow  after  his  departure, 
just  as  it  came  to  pass.  Joshua  and  the  Judges  were  raised 
up  by  God,  who  endued  them  frequently  with  special  powers, 
and  made  known  His  will  for  their  guidance.  Thus  the 
constitution  down  to  Samuel  was  a  theocracy,  one  in  which 
God  was  at  the  head,  with  a  human  monarch  to  administer. 
Samuel  was  such  an  administrator,  when  the  people  declared 
for  a  termination  of  the  theocracy.  Impatience  of  his  office, 
with  a  rejection  of  the  divine  guidance,  constituted  their 
offence.  The  divine  supervision  was  promised  nevertheless, 
and  the  whole  spirit  of  the  theocracy  would  continue,  under 
the  new  form  as  under  the  old,  if  the  nation  and  its  ruler 
should  go  on  in  submission  to  God.  In  reading  the  narrative 
of  Saul's  appointment  to  the  kingdom,  it  seems  difficult  to 
think  that  the  people  in  Samuel's  days  did  not  remember 
the  words  of  Deuteronomy.  Indeed,  we  might  almost  say 
that  the  forecast  or  prophecy  (whichever  it  was)  of  Moses 
helped,  along  with  some  circumstances  of  Samuel's  day,  to 
bring  about  its  own  fulfilment.     There  are  two  points,  how- 


DEUTERONOMY  221 

ever,  which  call  for  explanation,  (i.)  Moses  gave  no  hint 
that  the  desire  for  a  king  would  be  displeasing  to  God  ; 
whereas  Samuel  treated  it  as  a  sin,  even  bringing  the  people 
to  confess  as  much  :  "  We  have  added  unto  all  our  sins  this 
evil,  to  ask  us  a  king"  (i  Sam.  viii.  6;  xii.  19,  20).  The 
real  sin,  however,  did  not  consist  in  preferring  a  regal  con- 
stitution, but  in  their  rejection  of  Samuel  without  adequate 
reason,  amounting  to  a  rejection  of  God  (i  Sam.  viii.  7). 
(2.)  Then  again,  when  Samuel  dilated  so  fully  on  all  the 
burdens  of  a  regal  regime^  standing  armies,  court  magnifi- 
cence, forced  levies,  forced  labour,  heavy  taxes,  he  made  no 
reference  to  what  Moses  had  said  on  the  same  topic.  This 
would  be  surprising,  if  we  did  not  distinguish  the  objects 
Moses  and  Samuel  had  each  in  view.  Moses  was  portraying 
the  character  and  qualities  of  the  king  that  should  reign, 
and  these  would  have  to  be  the  same  whatever  burdens  and 
inconveniences  might  result  from  a  regal  administration. 
Samuel,  on  the  other  hand,  was  describing  those  burdens 
that  would  inevitably  fall  on  subjects,  let  the  king  be  as 
prudent  and  virtuous  as  he  might.  In  short,  Moses  was 
lecturing  the  future  king^  bidding  him  be  a  God-fearing 
man  ;  Samuel  was  warning  the  people  of  a  ki?igdom  and  all 
its  demands.  The  two  passages  run  therefore  on  different 
lines  :  it  would  not  in  the  least  have  helped  Samuel's  argu- 
ment to  remind  the  people  of  what  Moses  had  said  ;  it  would 
have  been  irrelevant ;  so  Samuel  cited  it  not. 

XXI.  The  Dark  Arts  {Deiit.  xviii.  9-14). — Among  the 
abominations  of  Canaan  were  the  arts  of  divination,  the  pro- 
fessions of  an  observer  of  times,  an  enchanter,  a  witch,  a 
charmer,  a  consulter  with  familiar  spirits,  a  wizard,  a  necro- 
mancer ;  all  of  which  were  forbidden  to  the  Israelite,  who 
was  not  to  resort  to  such  vain  impostures  for  the  learning  of 
the  secrets  of  Providence,  the  events  of  the  future,  the  paths 
of  wisdom  and  success,  but  would  be  taught  by  God  in  some 
better  way  all  that  it  was  good  for  him  to  know. 

XXII.  The  Prophet  like  unto  Moses  {DetO.  xviH.  15 


222  THE  PENTATEUCH 

-19), — This  promise,  then,  was  another  outcome  of  the 
people's  terror  at  the  voice  of  Sinai  (cf.  Deut.  v.  25-27), 
and  it  is  with  peculiar  fitness  recorded  here  after  the 
warnings  against  vain  attempts  to  discover  the  unknowable 
through  familiar  spirits,  wizards,  and  necromancers.  A 
genuine  prophet  like  Moses  himself,  inspired  to  make  known 
in  no  doubtful  tones  the  will  of  God,  should  be  raised  up, 
to  whom  the  people  might  safely  resort,  and  indeed  were 
bound  to  listen.  By  St.  Peter  and  St.  Stephen  (Acts  iii.  22  ; 
vii.  37),  this  prophet  is  plainly  identified  with  the  Messiah, 
But  it  seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  Moses  was  here 
predicting  the  rise  of  a  prophetic  order,  inspired  like  himself 
immediately  from  God,  to  instruct  Israel  as  to  the  divine 
will  in  their  various  emergencies,  an  order  of  which  Samuel, 
Elijah,  Isaiah,  and  the  rest  were  examples,  but  the  Messiah 
the  most  illustrious  one  of  all. 

XXIII.  The  Presumptuous  Prophet  (Z:>^2^/.  xviii.  20- 
22). — Thus  a  pretender  to  the  prophetic  gift  was  to  be 
discerned  by  the  failure  of  some  near  event  on  which  he 
staked  his  credit.  By  this  test  Samuel  calling  on  God  for 
rain  (i  Sam.  xiii.  16-18),  Elijah  for  drought  and  for  fire  from 
heaven  ( I  Kings  xvii.  i  ;  xviii.  24,39),  were  found  true  prophets. 
Should  a  so-called  prophet  come  forward  in  the  interest  of 
idolatry  he  was  by  that  very  fact  convicted  of  being  no 
prophet  of  God,  even  though  a  miracle  should  follow  his 
words  (Deut.  xiii.  1-3). 

XXIV.  Siege  of  Distant  Cities  (Beuf.  xx.  10-18). — 
Cities  beyond  the  limits  of  Canaan,  when  submitting,  were 
to  be  received  to  tribute,  their  idol  worship  notwithstanding, 
for  Israel's  commission  was  not  a  forcible  extermination 
of  idolatry  everywhere,  but  only  in  Canaan.  If  such  cities 
had  to  be  taken  by  storm,  the  lives  of  only  the  male  inhabi- 
tants were  forfeited  ;  all  women,  children,  and  cattle  were 
spared.  When  cities  of  Canaan  were  so  captured,  all  were 
put  to  the  sword  ;  the  reason  being  not  altogether  that 
idolatry  should  be  punished,  but  mainly  that  Israel  should 


DEUTERONOMY  223 

not  be  infected  by  it,  to  which  one  consideration  every  other 
was  to  yield  :  "  That  they  teach  you  not  to  do  after  all 
their  abominations  which  they  have  done  unto  their  gods  ; 
so  should  ye  sin  against  the  Lord  your  God."  That  one 
little  territory  of  all  the  world  was  to  be  freed  from  the 
plague  of  false  worship,  be  the  severity  of  the  process  what  it 
might.  The  cruelties  of  idolatry  far  surpassed  the  severities 
by  which  it  was  exterminated.  Things  being  as  they  were, 
pure  worship  could  not  be  effectively  established  otherwise. 

XXV.  Murder  by  Hand  Unknown  {Deu^.  xxi.  1-9). — 
Here  was  an  instance  of  the  extreme  reverence  for  human 
life  fostered  by  the  law  that  was  so  pitiless  against  the 
votaries  of  idols.  The  nation  commanded  to  be  so  callous 
against  the  one  mother-crime,  was  trained  to  a  perfect 
horror  of  blood  innocently  shed,  and  taught  to  reckon  the 
very  ground  polluted  until  a  solemn  inquest  had  failed  to 
discover  the  murderer,  and  the  Almighty  had  been  besought 
for  expiation  in  the  name  of  the  whole  public.  The  sacred- 
ness  of  human  life,  here  so  clearly  acknowledged,  and  so 
carefully  fostered,  added  all  its  awfulness  to  the  punishment 
they  were  required  to  execute  on  the  pestilential  idol  service. 

XXVI.  Entering  a  Vineyard  or  Cornfield  (Deuf. 
xxiii.  24,  25). — Compare  St.  Matt.  xii.  i  :  "  Jesus  went  on  the 
sabbath  day  through  the  corn  ;  and  His  disciples  were  an 
hungred,  and  began  to  pluck  the  ears  of  corn,  and  to  eat." 

XXVn.  Basket  of  First-fruits  (Z?^?^/.  xxvi.  i-ii).— 
When  the  nation  was  settled  in  Canaan,  the  Israelite  was 
to  present  in  a  basket,  from  time  to  time  (that  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles  was  the  rule  is  only  a  conjecture),  at  the  Taber- 
nacle, a  portion  of  the  first  ripe  fruits  of  his  land.  The 
various  productions  would  not  all  ripen  at  the  same  time, 
but  it  would  be  in  the  spirit  of  the  ordinance  if  the  basket 
were  furnished  with  what  might  be  in  season  when  it  should 
be  convenient  to  visit  the  Tabernacle.  On  appearing  with 
his  basket  before  the  priest  he  was  to  say:   (vers.  3-11). 


224  '^HE  PENTATEUCH 

Thus  the  Israelites  individually  were  taught  to  be  familiar 
with  the  epitome  of  their  early  history,  and  trace  every 
thing  up  to  the  gift  and  grace  of  God.  It  was  his  historic 
creed.  The  "  Syrian  "  was  Jacob  in  the  famine  and  in  other 
dangers.  Again  and  again  and  again  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt  recurs  in  this  Book.  The  basket  of  first-fruits  was  a  gift 
to  the  Tabernacle,  like  the  tithe,  but  not  one  of  the  offerings. 

XXVIII.  The  Engagement  between  God  and  Israel 
{Deut.  xxvi.  16-19). — Publicly  and  nationally  Israel  was 
pledged  to  be  God's  people,  and  God  by  express  revelation 
was  pledged  in  a  peculiar  manner  to  be  Israel's  God. 
That  was  in  fact  the  covenant  between  God  and  the  chosen 
race.  There  has  been  no  other  nation  in  such  a  covenant 
with  God.  But  the  baptized  Christian  of  all  nations  enters 
into  a  like  covenant ;  because  he  avouches  God,  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  for  his  Lord,  and  God  by  express 
revelation  promises  His  presence  with  him  for  ever,  if  he 
lives  the  rest  of  his  life  according  to  that  beginning. 

XXIX.  Ebal  and  Gerizim  {Deut.  xi.  26-32  ;  xxvii.). — By 
an  expressive  ceremony,  the  nation,  upon  getting  possession 
of  the  land,  was  to  declare  the  terms  of  their  tenure.  The 
scene  of  it  was  to  be  a  pair  of  remarkable  hills  contiguous 
to  one  another.  "  Thou  shalt  put  the  blessing  upon  mount 
Gerizim  and  the  curse  upon  mount  Ebal "  (xi.  29).  On  Ebal 
was  to  be  erected  an  altar  of  unhewn  stones,  plastered  ;  and 
upon  this  were  to  be  offered  burnt-offerings  and  peace-offer- 
ings, the  people  feasting  upon  the  latter  and  rejoicing  before 
God.  Upon  the  plaster  were  to  be  written,  "  All  the  words 
of  this  law  very  plainly  " — some  brief  summary  of  them,  of 
course,  perhaps  the  Ten  Commandments.  Upon  Gerizim 
were  to  stand  six  tribes — Simeon,  Levi,  Judah,  Issachar, 
Joseph,  Benjamin,  who  were  to  bless  ;  on  Ebal  the  other 
six,  who  were  to  cite  certain  offences  and  declare  those 
guilty  of  them  accursed.  The  first  of  these  was,  "  Cursed 
be  the  man  that  maketh  any  graven  or  molten  image  ; "  the 
twelfth  and  last,  "  Cursed  is  he  that  confirmeth  not  all  the 


DEUTERONOMY  225 

words  of  this  law  to  do  them."  Ebal  and  Gerizim  are 
accurately  known,  near  the  town  of  Sichem,  and  the  rriind's 
eye  can  see  the  groups  of  elders  representing  the  tribes,  six 
on  one  hill,  six  opposite  them  on  the  other,  on  the  rising 
slopes,  and  the  very  area  at  the  base  where  the  mass  of  the 
people  stood  between  them.  Those  two  striking  hills  re- 
mained a  perpetual  memorial  of  the  scene,  to  be  associated 
with  it  for  ever,  while  no  artificial  monument  that  could  be 
erected  then  would  have  lasted  above  a  few  generations. 

XXX.  Blessings  on  Obedience  {Deut.  xxviii.  1-14). — 
This  passage  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  and  affecting  of 
all  this  Book,  reminding  us  of  Lev.  xxvi.  3-13. 

XXXI.  Curses  on  Disobedience  (Z)^^^/.  xxviii.  15-68). 

XXXII.  Prophecies  and  Promises (Z>^z^/.  xxx.  i-io).— 
In  previous  chapters  there  were  promises  on  obedience,  and 
threatenings  on  disobedience ;  here  are  promises  on  re- 
pentance. 

XXXIII.  The  Commandment  Plain  {Deut.  xxx.  11- 
14). — In  short,  what  God  required  Israel  to  do  had  been  so 
plainly  revealed  that  all  could  understand  and  teach  it  if  the 
heart  were  inclined.  It  would  be  in  vain  to  say.  How  can 
we  know  the  mind  and  will  of  God  ?  It  is  a  mystery,  out  of 
reach,  out  of  ken,  beyond  the  sea,  above  the  heavens.  Vain 
would  be  such  excuses.  From  heaven  the  mystery  had 
been  sent  down  and  uttered  to  Moses  ;  beyond  the  sea,  or 
in  the  depths  of  man's  intellect,  it  was  not.  Israel  possessed 
it,  and  needed  not  to  ask  the  thinkers  of  the  world  to  weave 
them  a  philosophy  as  the  truth  of  God.  They  needed  none 
of  the  religion  of  the  nations,  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Phoenician, 
Greek,  Roman,  Indian,  Chinese.  With  their  systems  Israel 
had  nothing  to  do.  The  word  of  their  God  was  in  the  lips 
of  fathers  and  children,  teachers  and  taught,  visible  wher- 
ever eye  turned,  on  their  foreheads,  on  their  hands,  on  their 
doorposts.     There  was  no  escaping  it,  and  a  child  or  a  fool 

s.  T,  P 


226  THE  PENTATEUCH 

could  understand.  With  that  word,  and  with  no  other, 
Israel  had  to  do.  God  had  not  dealt  so  with  any  nation, 
neither  had  the  heathen  knowledge  of  His  laws.  It  was 
vain  to  look  to  them.  The  same  words  were  used  by  St. 
Paul  in  respect  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ  (Rom.  x.  14,  15). 
This  was  equally  plain,  equally  authoritative,  "  the  word  of 
faith  "  which  he  preached,  declaring  Christ  incarnate,  Christ 
crucified  and  risen  ;  and  when  that  message  was  heard  the 
darkness  had  passed,  the  true  light  shone. 

XXXIV.  The  Law  to  be  Read  every  Seventh 
Year  {Dent.  xxxi.  9-13). — The  Book  of  the  Law  which 
Moses  had  written  was  committed  by  him  to  the  custody  of 
the  priests,  who  were  enjoined  to  read  it  in  the  ears  of  all 
Israel  every  seventh  year,  the  year  of  release,  at  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles,  when  they  came  to  appear  before  the  Lord 
in  the  place  He  should  choose.  It  is  not  of  course  implied 
that  the  people  were  to  be  instructed  in  the  law  only  at 
those  long  intervals.  Anything  but  that.  Fathers  were  to 
be  teaching  their  children  sitting  in  the  house,  walking  by 
the  way,  lying  down  to  sleep,  rising  up  to  work  (Deut.  vi. 
7).  The  delight  of  the  true  Israelite  was  in  the  law  of  the 
Lord,  and  in  it  did  he  meditate  day  and  night  (Ps.  i.  2). 
The  septennial  reading  was  a  great  public  solemnity,  when 
the  nation  was  gathered  to  its  altar,  that  they  might  think 
of  the  assembly  at  Horeb  and  of  that  in  the  plain  of  Moab. 
One  such  reading  is  described  in  Neh.  viii.  7.  Their 
acceptance  of  the  law  was  thus  again  and  again  ratified  in 
their  national  capacity,  besides  what  was  done  by  indi- 
viduals in  private  every  day. 

XXXV.  Apostasy  Predicted  {Deut  xxxi.  14-30). — 
Notwithstanding  all  the  threatenings,  all  the  promises,  all 
the  exhortations,  Moses  was  assured  by  God  that  Israel 
would  prove  unfaithful  to  their  covenant  and  be  a  God- 
forsaken people.  Yet  not  in  every  sense,  and  for  all  time. 
Their  land  and  their  ritual  worship  they  would  forfeit  ;  but 
their  law  should  never  be  taken  out  of  their  hands ;  in 


DEUTERONOMY  227 

which  respect  they  would  never  cease  being  the  people  of 
God.  Moses  was  therefore  commanded  to  compose  a  song, 
from  which  in  later  times,  when  under  the  rod,  they  would  be 
reminded  of  the  cause. 

XXXVI.  The  Song  of  Moses  {Deuf.  xxxii.  1-46).— 
This  lyric  poem,  intended  to  remain  Israel's  monitor  to  all 
future  ages,  for  warning  while  they  stood,  for  encouragement 
when  fallen  and  afflicted,  contains  four  leading  thoughts  : 
their  original  exaltation  by  the  hand  of  God  ;  their  corrup- 
tion through  prosperity  ;  their  consequent  chastisement  ; 
their  recovery  by  divine  grace.  Under  each  head  we  sub- 
join a  few  passages  from  the  Song,  (i.)  Their  exaltation. 
"  Remember  the  days  of  old  ;  consider  the  years  of  many 
generations  ;  ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  show  thee,  thy 
elders  and  they  will  tell  thee."  In  every  age  of  the  nation's 
life  their  wonderful  and  providential  past  should  never 
fade  from  memory.  "When  the  Most  High  divided  to  the 
nations  their  inheritance,  when  He  separated  the  sons  of 
Adam,  He  set  the  bounds  of  the  people  according  to  the 
number  of  the  children  of  Israel."  Israel's  place  among 
the  nations  was  assigned  from  the  beginning  in  the  fore- 
knowledge of  God.  "  For  the  Lord's  portion  is  His  people, 
Jacob  is  the  lot  of  His  inheritance.  He  found  him  in  a 
desert  land,  and  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness  ;  He  led 
him  about.  He  instructed  him.  He  kept  him  as  the  apple  of 
His  eye.  As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over 
her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth 
them  on  her  wings  ;  so  the  Lord  alone  did  lead  him,  and 
there  was  no  strange  god  with  him."  It  was  no  other  than 
God  Himself,  who  brought  Israel  in  triumph  ;  idol-gods  had 
no  share  in  it.  "  He  made  him  ride  on  the  high  places  of 
the  earth,  that  he  might  eat  the  increase  of  the  fields  ;  and 
He  made  him  to  suck  honey  out  of  the  rock,  and  oil  out  of 
the  flinty  rock;"  placed  Israel  victorious  on  the  mountain 
barrier,  which  gave  them  and  secured  them  the  promised 
land.  "  Butter  of  kine,  and  milk  of  sheep,  with  fat  of  lambs, 
and  rams  of  the  breed  of  Bashan,  and  goats,  with  the  fat  of 


228  THE  PENTATEUCH 

kidneys  of  wheat,"  the  finest  of  the  wheat  (as  Ps.  cxlvii.  14), 
"  and  thou  didst  drink  of  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape."  (2.) 
Their  corruptio7i,  "But  Jeshurun,"  the  righteous  people, 
under  promise  to  be  so,  "  waxed  fat  and  kicked  :  thou  art 
waxen  fat,  thou  art  grown  thick,  thou  art  covered  with  fat- 
ness :  then  he  forsook  God  which  made  him,  and  lightly 
esteemed  the  Rock  of  his  salvation.  They  provoked  him 
to  jealousy  with  strange  gods,  with  abominations  provoked 
they  him  to  anger.  They  sacrificed  unto  devils,  not  to 
God  ;  to  gods  whom  they  knew  not,  to  new  gods  that  came 
newly  up,  whom  your  fathers  feared  not.  Of  the  Rock  that 
begat  thee  thou  art  unmindful,  and  hast  forgotten  God  that 
formed  thee."  (3.)  Their  piinish7nent.  "And  when  the 
Lord  saw  it.  He  abhorred  them,  because  of  the  provoking  of 
His  sons,  and  of  His  daughters.  And  He  said,  I  will  hide  My 
face  from  them,  I  will  see  what  their  end  shall  be  ;  for  they 
are  a  very  fro  ward  generation,  children  in  whom  is  no  faith. 
.  .  .  The  sword  without,  and  terror  within,  shall  destroy 
both  the  young  man  and  the  virgin,  the  suckling  also  with 
the  man  of  grey  hairs."  (4.)  Their  recovery.  "Is  not  this  laid 
up  in  store  with  Me,  and  sealed  up  among  My  treasures  ? 
To  me  belongeth  vengeance  and  recompence."  God  has 
decreed  its  period  and  the  degree  of  its  severity.  "  I  kill 
and  I  make  alive ;  I  wound  and  I  heal.  .  .  .  Rejoice,  O  ye 
nations,  with  His  people  ;  for  He  will  avenge  the  blood  of  His 
servants,  and  will  render  vengeance  to  His  adversaries,  and 
will  be  merciful  unto  His  land  and  to  His  people."  Under 
these  four  heads  Moses  set  before  Israel  an  epitome  of  their 
whole  history  ;  and  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  prophets  in 
future  times,  as  they  discoursed  to  their  brother  Israelites, 
followed  substantially  the  same  topics  in  the  same  order. 
Moses  gave  them  the  key-note,  and  his  Song  echoes  in  all 
they  uttered  and  wrote.  For  example,  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Isaiah  there  are  (i)  the  favoured  children,  (2)  their  re- 
bellion, (3)  their  desolation,  (4)  their  pardon.  Thus  not 
only  the  priestly  element  of  Israel's  religion,  but  the  pro- 
phetic as  well,  started  from  the  Law  of  Moses. 


DEUTERONOMY  229 

XXXVII.  The  Blessing  on  Israel (Z?^w/.xxxiii.).— The 
final  discourse  of  the  Lawgiver  in  the  presence  of  his 
people,  when  about  to  ascend  to  the  heights  of  Nebo,  was, 
like  the  last  words  of  the  departing  Saviour,  one  of  blessing. 
Reproofs  and  all  words  of  unhappy  omen  are  ended,  as 
when  a  dying  father  looks  upon  his  weeping  children  ;  and 
upon  the  tribes  marshalled  before  him  for  another  testing 
of  their  faith,  Moses  now  looked  with  graciousness  only. 
He  beheld  them,  not  as  in  the  Song,  not  as  blessed,  cor- 
rupted, chastised,  restored,  but  in  the  first  and  last  characters 
alone,  altogether  inheriting  a  blessing.  He  saw  them,  and 
he  called  them,  Jeshurun,  the  Upright ;  and  as  he  looked 
upon  the  tribes  one  by  one  he  saw  what  each  might  be,  was 
bound  to  be,  should  aim  to  be,  happy,  prosperous  members 
of  a  perfect  body,  all  of  them  brethren  in  unity,  children  of 
God.  So  much  seems  clear.  But  in  points  of  detail  there 
are  difficulties  for  which  the  commentator's  aid  must  be 
sought,  and  yet  not  with  too  much  confidence  of  a  satis- 
factory result.  The  diction,  as  in  all  ancient  poetr}',  is 
occasionally  obscure  ;  the  meaning  of  particular  words  and 
phrases  uncertain.  The  Revisers  leave  the  Authorised 
Version  substantially  as  it  was,  with  just  a  change  here  and 
there,  as  much  as  to  tell  us  they  have  little  further  certain 
light  to  offer.  We  shall  not  cite  any  large  portion  of  this 
chapter,  confining  ourselves  to  a  few  selected  verses. 

"  The  Lord  came  from  Sinai,  and  rose  up  from  Seir  unto 
them  ;  He  shined  forth  from  Mount  Paran,  and  He  came 
from  (R.V.)  ten  thousands  of  saints  ;  from  His  right  hand 
went  a  fier>'  law  for  them."  Here  is  the  march  from  Sinai — 
in  the  first  instance,  led  by  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  the  ark ; 
and  their  second  departure,  from  Kadesh-barnea,  Seir,  Mount 
Paran,  after  forty  years'  detention.  The  "saints,"  or  holy 
ones,  would  indicate  the  angelic  ministry  by  which  the  Law 
of  Sinai  was  promulgated.  And  of  Benjamin  he  said,  "  The 
beloved  of  the  Lord  shall  dwell  in  safety  by  Him,  and  the 
Lord  shall  cover  him  all  the  day  long,  and  He  shall  dwell 
between  his  shoulders."  The  last  expression  has  been  con- 
sidered an  allusion  to  the  shepherd's  care  (St.  Luke  xv.  5. 


230  THE  PENTATEUCH 

Compare  Deut.  i.  31).  The  blessing  of  Asher  is,  "  Thy  shoes 
shall  be  iron  and  brass  ;  and  as  thy  days  so  shall  thy  strength 
be."  "  Shoes  "  might  be  "  bars  "  (as  R.V.),  but  it  is  not  cer- 
tain that  the  change  is  required.  The  closing  words  of  the 
Lawgiver's  blessing,  addressed  to  the  whole  people,  are  easy 
to  understand  without  further  help  from  commentator  or 
translator.  "  There  is  none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun, 
who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  in  thy  help,  and  in  His  excellency 
on  the  sky.  The  eternal  God  is  thy  refuge,  and  underneath 
are  the  everlasting  arms  ;  and  He  shall  thrust  out  the  enemy 
from  before  thee,  and  shall  say,  Destroy  them.  Israel  then 
shall  dwell  in  safety  alone  ;  the  fountain  of  Jacob  shall  be 
upon  a  land  of  corn  and  wine  ;  also  His  heavens  shall  drop 
down  dew.  Happy  art  thou,  O  Israel.  Who  is  like  unto 
thee,  O  people  saved  by  the  Lord,  the  shield  of  thy  help, 
and  who  is  the  sword  of  thy  excellency  !  And  thine  enemies 
shall  be  found  liars  unto  thee,  and  thou  shalt  tread  upon  their 
high  places." 

XXXVIII.  Moses  Views  the  Land  and  Dies  {Deut. 
xxxiv). — That  this  concluding  passage  of  the  Pentateuch 
was  written  after  the  death  of  Moses,  as  well  as  after  the 
conquest  and  division  of  Canaan,  is  obvious  ;  but  how  long 
afterwards,  or  by  whom,  it  is  not  agreed.  The  last  three 
verses,  stating  that  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses  had  not  arisen, 
could  have  been  added  at  any  time  down  to  the  end  of  the 
Old  Testament  period  ;  for  though  a  certain  fulfilment  of  the 
promise  of  such  a  prophet  may  be  said  to  have  begun  with 
Samuel,  no  one  of  the  prophetic  order  appeared  in  all  the 
grandeur  of  Moses's  personality  as  here  described.  The  in- 
spiration was  there  ;  but  not  the  mighty  hand  and  the  great 
terror  which  Moses  showed  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel.  In 
the  whole  history  of  the  chosen  race,  down  to  the  appearance 
of  Jesus  Christ,  Moses  was  the  one  commanding  figure,  with- 
out an  equal  and  without  a  second.  Coming  now  to  the 
concluding  scene,  we  observe  that  no  one  is  said  to  have 
accompanied  Moses  to  the  summit  of  Nebo,  It  was  different 
when  Aaron  died  on  Mount  Hor  ;   but  in  that  case  there 


DEUTERONOMY  231 

was  a  successor  to  be  solemnly  invested  with  the  high  priest's 
robes  of  office.  While,  however,  there  was  probably  no  wit- 
ness of  that  venerable  figure  standing  in  strength  unabated 
and  with  eye  undimmed  viewing  the  landscape  o'er,  any  one 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  could  have  described  it  all  in  the 
main  from  what  Moses  himself  had  publicly  stated,  through 
divine  revelation,  as  in  store  for  him  (xxxii.  48-52).  The 
rest  of  the  account  was  but  a  filling  in  of  minor  details, 
which,  when  the  tribal  allotments  had  been  made  a  few 
years  later,  could  have  been  taken  for  granted.  We  can 
think  of  no  one  so  likely  to  have  inscribed  the  bulk  of  this 
closing  narrative  (vers.  1-9)  as  Aaron's  son,  Eleazar  the  high 
priest,  to  whom,  as  the  head  of  his  order,  this  Book  of  the 
Law,  on  its  completion  by  Moses,  must  have  been  specially 
entrusted  (see  xxxi.  9).  That  the  spot  from  whence  Moses 
viewed  the  land  of  Canaan  has  been  at  length  discovered 
within  these  past  few  years  of  eager  exploration,  seems 
hardly  open  to  doubt.  It  is  one  to  which  the  name  Nebo 
is  found  still  attaching,  and  the  prospect  from  it,  of  which 
more  than  one  description  has  appeared  in  print,  agrees. 
It  does  not  indeed  take  in  precisely  each  distant  point 
named  in  our  chapter,  which  are  not  perhaps  to  be  read  as 
having  been  literally  seen.  It  is  enough  if  they  should  ex- 
press in  general  terms,  as  they  do,  the  utmost  extent  of  the 
land  in  every  direction,  more  or  less  of  it,  here  and  there, 
falling  into  the  actual  view.  We  observe  in  conclusion  that 
to  a  Christian  the  idea  of  Moses  viewing  the  Land  of 
Promise  might  suggest  in  matters  spiritual  a  thought  like 
this  :— 

"  The  Lord  of  all  the  vast  domain 
Hath  promised  unto  me 
The  length  and  breadth  of  all  the  plain, 
As  far  as  faith  can  see." 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Aaron,  91,  92 ;  consecrated  with  his 
sons,  144  ;  anointed,  145  ;  enters  on 
his  office,  146  ;  his  place  in  the  camp, 
167;  his  functions  at  removals,  167, 
168  ;  asserts  himself,  with  Miriam, 
against  Moses,  176  ;  with  his  censer 
between  the  living  and  the  dead, 
184  ;  his  rod  buds,  185  ;  excluded 
from  Canaan  he  dies  on  Mount 
Hor,  187,  188. 

Abel,  his  jninchah,  why  accepted,  135 

Abihu,  death  of,  147. 

Abiram,  his  rebellion,  183. 

Abraham,  his  character,  44  ;  his  faith, 
44  ;  his  olah  on  Moriah,  132. 

Abram,  27. 

Accadians,  24. 

Adam,  6,  8. 

Adonai,  90. 

Ain  Gadis,  177,  179. 

Altar,  the  services  of  the,  basis  of  the 
Tabernacle  ritual,  130;  called  "of 
burnt-oCfering "  and  why,  132;  its 
dedication,  170;  no  rival  one  allowed, 
213,  214. 

Amalekites,  battle  with,  at  Rephidim, 
108  ;  in  the  South,  180;  defeat  Israel, 
182,  183. 

Amorites,  in  the  mountains  of  the 
South,  180  ;  others  on  the  East  of 
Jordan  under  Sihon,  T91. 

Anakims,  180,  181. 

Animals,  the  rule,  in  sacrifices,  130 ; 
what  were  allowed  for  food,  148. 

Apostasy  of  Israel  foretold,  226. 

Arad,  King  of,  188. 


Ark,  Noah's,  19. 

Ark,  led  in  the  march,  173  ;  kept  back 

in  the  assualt  on  the  South,  182. 
Arnon,  the  river,  190. 
Ashatn,  trespass-offering,  140,  143. 
Asher,    tribe    of,    blessed   by    Moses, 

230. 
Atonement,  made  by  offerings,    141  ; 

great  day  of,  150,  152,  155. 
Attributes  of  God,  how  revealed   to 

Israel,  206. 
Azazimeh  Arabs,  179. 


Baal-peor,  Israel  joined  to,  192. 

Balaam,  brought  to  curse  Israel,  192  ; 
slain,  195. 

Basket  of  first-fruits,  223. 

Beer,  the  well,  dug,  190. 

Benjamin,  the  blessing  of  Moses  on, 
229. 

Bethel,  58,  66. 

Bezaleel  and  Hur,  123. 

Bezer,  city  of  refuge,  207. 

Birds  that  might  be  eaten,  148,  149. 

Blasphemer  slain,  157, 

Blessing,  bestowed  on  Israel,  169 ; 
pronounced  from  Gerizim,  224  ;  pro- 
mised on  obedience,  225 ;  pronounced 
on  Israel  by  Moses,  229. 

Blood,  sacrificial,  how  dealt  with,  131 ; 
its  ritual  importance,  134  ;  of  the 
sin-offering,  how  used,  138, 139  ;  pro- 
hibited as  food,  152. 

Bonnet,  the  head-tire  of  the  priests, 
MS- 


35 


236 


INDEX 


'  Borrowed,"    the    Israelites    of   the 

Egyptians,  91. 
Brazen  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  189. 
Breast  of  the  peace-offering,  waved, 

135. 

Breast-plate  of  the  high  priest,  145. 

Burning  Bush,  89. 

Burnt-offering,  design  of,  131,  132, 
ritual  of,  132  ;  earliest  instances  of, 
132  ;  later  instances,  132  ;  in  con- 
junction with  the  peace-offering, 
137  ;  its  order  in  the  series,  138. 


Cain,  14,  15  ;  his  viincJiah,  why  re- 
jected, 133,  134. 

Caleb,  one  of  the  spies,  179;  his  faith- 
fulness, 181  ;  is  allowed  to  enter 
Canaan,  182. 

Canaan,  Israel's  object  to  reach  it,  129, 
130  ;  its  customs  to  be  shunned,  153  ; 
Mosaic  boundaries  of,  200  ;  to  be  won 
in  the  strength  of  God  only,  and  by 
degrees,  210 ;  how  its  lands  ferti- 
lised, 212. 

Canaanites  occupy  the  lowlands,  east 
and  west,  180. 

Centrality  of  the  national  worship  en- 
joined, 213,  214. 

Chattah,  sin-offering,  138. 

Children  of  Israel  who  went  into 
E-ypt,  84. 

Christ,  a  high  priest,  146, 

"Cities  of  the  Plain,"  their  invasion, 
32  ;  destruction,  38  ;  situation,  39. 

Cities,  Levitical,  200  ;  of  refuge,  200, 
207. 

Cloud,  guiding,  171. 

Coat,  a  priestly  robe,  145. 

Commandment,  the,  plain,  225. 

Coney,  148. 

Confusion  of  tongues,  25. 

Consecration,  ritual  of,  144  ;  for  the 
priesthood,  145,  146. 

Cornfield,  strangers  in,  223. 

Covenant  between  God  and  Israel, 
208,  224. 

Creation,  4,  5  ;  of  man,  8. 

Crown  of  the  mitre,  145. 

Curses,  on  disobedience,  225  ;  to  be 
pronounced  from  Mount  Ebal,  225. 


Damascus,  36. 

Dark  arts  forbidden,  221, 

Dathan,  rebellion  of,  183. 

Daughters,  inheritance  of,  201. 

Dead  Sea,  39. 

Debtors,  release  of,  216. 

Decalogue,  repeated,  207  ;  a  condition 

of  the  covenant,  208. 
Departure  from  Sinai,  172. 
Deuteronomy,   Book  of,   title,  period 

embraced  in,  introductory  contents 

of,  203  ;  why  called,  207. 
Devoting  of  persons  and  things,  162. 
Dinah,  65. 

Disobedience,  penalty  of,  225. 
Dispersion  of  the  nations,  23. 
Doorposts  to  be  inscribed,  225. 
Dreams,  70. 
Drink-offerings,  134,  135. 


Ebal,  Mount,  the  ceremony  on,  224  ; 

situation  of,  224. 
Eden,  8. 
Edom,  situation   of,    187 ;    not   to  be 

violated,  187  ;  difficult  to  be  forced, 

188  ;  circuitous  march  round,  189. 
Edomite  and  Horite  genealogies,  35, 

68. 
Egypt,  the  going  forth  out  of,  99  ;  its 

customs  to  be  shunned,  153;  its  mode 

of  fertilisation,  212. 
Elamite  nation,  32. 
Eldad,  prophesying  of,  in  the  camp, 

174. 
Eleazar,  his  functions  at  .the  removing 

of  the  Tabernacle,  168  ;  his  place  in 

the  march,   173  ;   probably  receives 

the  Book  of  the  Law  from  Moses,23i. 
Eliezer  of  Damascus,  50,  52. 
Elim,  104. 
Elohim,  13. 

Encampment,  order  of,  166. 
Ephod,  a  robe  of  the  high  priest,  145. 
Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  78. 
Ephron  the  Hittite,  48. 
Erweis  el  Ebeirig,  174. 
Esau,  54  ;  his  blessing,  55,  64,  65. 
Eshcol,  grapes  of,  180. 
Et  Tih,  plateau  of,  how  gained,  172, 

17s,  177- 


INDEX 


237 


Evil,  existence  of,  12  ;  origin  of,  12. 
Exodus,  an  epitome,  97;  an  allegory, 

98. 
Extirpation  of  the   Canaanites,    197, 

19S,  209,  210. 

Faith,  justification  by,  40. 

Fall,  the,  9,  11. 

Family,  the,  a  distinctively  human 
institution,  8. 

Fat  of  the  offerings,  135. 

Fatherless  to  be  relieved  out  of  tithe, 
216. 

Feasts  of  the  Lord,  154. 

Fekreh,  Wady,  187,  188. 

Fifth  part  in  reparation,  141,  142. 

First-fruits,  basket  of,  223. 

Fishes  allowed  for  food,  148. 

Flood,  the,  tradition  of,  18,  20. 

Forty  years'  penal  wanderings,  182. 

Frontlets,  213. 

Future  life,  not  mentioned  in  the  pro- 
mises of  Moses,  but  probably  not 
unknown,  161. 

Gad,  located  east  of  Jordan,  191. 
Genealogies,  importance  of,  14,  16. 
Genealogy  of  Cain,  15  ;  of  Seth,   17  ; 

of  Noah,  22 ;  of  Japheth,  22,  23  ;  of 

Ham,  23  ;  of  Shem,  24  ;  of  Abraham, 

24  ;  of  Moses,  95. 
Gershonites,  their  place  in   the  camp, 

167 ;    their    functions   in   removals, 

168  ;  their  place  in  the  march,  172. 
Gerizim,  situation  of  and  ceremony  on, 

224. 
Gilead,  60  ;  assigned  to  Reuben,  Gad, 

and  half  Manasseh,  196. 
God  desires  the  love  of  His  people, 

208,  209. 
God,  localised  presence  of,  15. 
Golan,  a  city  of  refuge,  207. 
Golden  calf,  the,  119. 
Goshen,  76. 
Guweir,  Wady,  188. 

Hand  on  victim's  head,  131. 

"  Hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,"  97. 

Hare  forbidden  for  food,  149. 


Harvests,  Feast  of,  155. 

Hazeroth,  173,  175. 

Heave-shoulder,  135. 

Hebrews,  their  separation,  27  ;  91. 

Hebron,  48. 

High  priest,  title  in  O.  T.  not  often, 

146. 
Hittites  in  the  highlands  of  Canaan, 

48,  50,  51,  54,  180. 
Hobab,  88,  173. 
Holiness  to  the  Lord,  145. 
Holy  convocation,  154. 
Holy  of  holies  entered  once  a  year, 

151. 
Hor,  Mount,  188. 
Houses  to  be  inscribed,  213. 
Huderah,  175. 

Idolatry,  enticement  to,  a  capital 
oflfence,  215. 

Idols  degrade  the  conception  of  God, 
206. 

Images  strictly  forbidden  in  worship, 
161. 

Insects,  what  allowed  for  food,  149. 

Isaac,  36  ;  birth  of,  41  ;  sacrifice  of,  45, 
46,  53  ;  marriage,  50 ;  his  blessing, 
55  ;  death,  56,  67. 

Ishmael,  37,  41,  43. 

Israel,  the  law  a  training  for,  209  ;  its 
danger  of  corruption  in  Canaan, 
210  ;  a  rebellious  people  but  par- 
doned, 193,  211  ;  granted  Canaan 
not  for  its  deserts,  211  ;  its  heart 
appealed  to,  212  ;  required  to  make 
an  open  profession  of  the  fear  of 
God,  213  ;  under  the  special  illumina- 
tion of  God,  215,  216  ;  its  apostasy 
predicted,  226. 

Ithamar,  his  functions  at  removals, 
168  ;  his  place  in  the  march,  172. 

Jacob,  57  ;  his  character,  60,  61  ;  meet- 
ing with  Esau,  61  ;  his  well  at  She- 
chem,  63  ;  at  Hebron,  67  ;  burial,  77. 

Jebel  Harun,  188. 

Jebel  Madurah,  188. 

Jebusites  in  the  highlands  of  Canaan, 
180. 

Jehovah,  13,  90. 


238 


INDEX 


Jethro,  87  ;  his  sacrifice,  132. 

Job,  his  sacrifice,  132. 

Joseph,  70  ;  embalmment,  78  ;  blessing 

of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,   78  ;  of 

the  twelve  tribes,  79. 
Joshua,  107,  108  ;  would  forbid  Eldad, 

174  ;  one  of  the  spies,  179  ;  meaning 

of  his  name,  179  ;  his  fidelity,  181  ; 

allowed  to  enter  Canaan,  182. 
Jubilee,  year  of,    150 ;   alluded  to  by 

Ezekiel,  160. 

Kadesh,  a  city,  187. 

Kadesh-Barnea,  177. 

Kibroth-hattaavah,  173,  175. 

King,  sanctioned  under  certain  con- 
ditions, 219. 

Kohathites,  their  place  in  the  camp, 
167 ;  their  functions  at  removals, 
168  ;  their  place  in  the  march,  172. 

Korah's  rebellion,  183. 

Laban,  59. 

Lamb  of  burnt-offering,  132. 

Languages,  26. 

Law,  the,  the  giving  of,  no;  public 
septennial  reading  of,  226  ;  never  to 
be  taken  away  from  Israel,  226  ;  pro- 
bably delivered  to  Eleazar  on  the 
death  of  Moses,  231. 

Leprosy,  ritual  in,  149. 

Levites,  their  office,  167  ;  their  conse- 
cration, 170  ;  to  be  supported  out  of 
tithe   216. 

Levitical  cities,  200. 

Leviticus,  Book  of,  its  title  and  general 
scope,  129. 

Lights  of  the  Tabernacle,  156. 

Longevity  of  the  Patriarchs,  17,  95. 

Lot,  35. 

Machpelah,  cave  of,  48,  49,  53. 

Madurah,  Jebel,  189. 

Man,  creation  of,  8. 

Manasseh,  partly  settled  in  north  Gil- 

ead,  196. 
Manna,  the,  105  ;  complained  of,  174. 
Marah,  103.  s^ 
March  to  Jordan,  190, 
Massah,  187. 


Meaning  of  the  ceremonial  laws,  163. 

Meat-offering,  design,  ritual,  and  early 
instances  of,  133  ;  its  relation  to  the 
burnt-offering,  133, 134  ;  in  reference 
to  Cain's  offering,  134  ;  its  order  in 
the  series,  133,  134,  138  ;  its  relation 
to  the  drink-offering,  134,  135  ;  later 
instances  of,  134. 

Medad  prophesying  with  Eldad  in  the 
camp,  174. 

Melchizedek,  32,  33. 

Merarites,  their  place  in  the  camp,  167 ; 
their  functions  at  removals,  168 ;  their 
place  in  the  march,  172. 

Meribah,  187, 

Midianites  punished,  195. 

Minchah,  meat-offering,  132. 

Miriam,  asserts  herself  with  Aaron 
against  Moses,  and  is  punished  with 
leprosy,  176  ;  dies  at  Kadesh,  185  ; 
excluded  from  Canaan,  187. 

Mitre,  the  high-priest's,  145. 

Molech,  rites  of,  153. 

Moriah,  47. 

Moses,  birth,  &c.,  77  ;  at  the  Burning 
Bush,  89  ;  his  children,  92,  108  ;  in 
the  Mount,  113  ;  the  second  time, 
121  ;  the  glory  of  his  face,  122  ;  re- 
ceives divine  communications,  and 
how,  130,  165,  170,  176  ;  liis  place  in 
the  camp,  167  ;  at  the  head  of  the 
dispensation,  176 ;  an  intercessor, 
181  ;  his  fault  at  Kadesh  and  ex- 
clusion from  Canaan,  187  ;  his  song, 
227  ;  his  blessing,  229 ;  his  view  of 
the  land  and  death,  230. 

Murder  by  hand  unknown,  223. 


Nadab,  his  death,  147. 

Nations,  earliest  after  the  Flood,  22, 

23  ;  in  the  time  of  Abraham,  34,  37. 
Nazarite,  objects  and  ritual,  168,  169. 
Nebo,  230,  231. 
Nesek,  drink-offering,  134. 
Noah,  and  his  descendants,   22  ;    his 

sacrifice,  132,  133. 
Nomad  life  of  the  Patriarchs,  31. 
Numbers,  Book  of,  its  title  and  scope, 

165. 
Numbering  of  the  people,  166. 


INDEX 


239 


Obedience,  blessings  on,  226. 
Og,  King  of  Bashan,  conquered,  191. 
Olahy  burnt-offering,  132. 
Oppression  of  the  Israelites  by  Egypt, 

cause  and  time  of,  84. 
Order  of  the  march,  172. 

Palmer,  Professor,  175. 
Paran,  wilderness  of,  172,  177. 
Passover,  institution  of,  98,  154,  218  ; 

at  Sinai,  171. 
Peace-offering,  its  design,  135  ;  fed  on 

by  the  priest  and  the  offerer,  136  ; 

earlier  and  later  instances,  136,  137  ; 

associated  with   the  burnt-offering, 

137  ;  a  thank-offering,  137  ;  its  order 

in  the  series,  138. 
Pentecost,  155,  219. 
Petra,  35,  188. 
Pharaoh,  of  the  oppression  =  Raraeses 

II.,  74;  of  the  Exodus  =  Menephtha, 

74- 
Phinehas,  his  zeal  rewarded,  195. 
Pithom,  site  of,  86. 
Plagues  of  Egypt,  96. 
Polygamy,  evils  of,  67. 
Priests,  share  in  the  peace-offerings, 

136  ;  consecrated  to  their  office,  144  ; 

and  enter  on  it,  146. 
"  Promised    Land,"    the,    27 ;   for    a 

moral  people,  153. 
Promises,  of  a  temporal  character,  161 ; 

on  repentance,  225. 
Prophesying,  175. 
Prophetic    office,     the,     starts     from 

Moses,  228. 
Prophet  like  Moses,  221,  222. 
Prophets,  presumptuous,  222. 

Quails,  105. 

Ramoth   in   Gilead,  city  of  refuge, 

207. 
Rebekah,  51,  52,  55,  59. 
Red  Sea,  passage  of,  loi. 
Repentance,  promises  on,  225. 
Rephaim,  34,  37. 
Rephidim,  107 
Repulse  fron^  Canaan,  183. 


Restitution  in  trespass,  168. 
Restoration,  future,  of  Israel,  on  what 

terms,  207. 
Reuben  and  Gad  remonstrated  with  by 

Moses,  197. 
Reuel  or  Raguel,  88. 
Ritual    worship,    importance    of,    for 

Israel,  161. 
Robe  of  the  ephod,  145 
Rowlands,  Rev.  J.,  his  discovery,  i68. 


Sabbath,  weekly,  106,  154 ;  God's, 
162  ;  in  reference  to  creation,  208  ; 
in  reference  to  Egypt,  208. 

Sabbatical  year,  157  ;  its  history, 
158,  159. 

Sabbatical  system,  its  importance  to 
Israel,  i6r,  162. 

Sacrifice,  general  ritual  of,  130,  131  ; 
not  accepted  for  obedience,  144. 

Satan,  11. 

Scripture,  Holy,  its  comprehensive- 
ness, unity,  moral  grandeur,  histori- 
cal accuracy,  freedom  from  scientific 
error,  2,  3 ;  126,  127. 

Seir,  land  of,  187. 

Servants,  release  of,  217. 

Servile  work,  155,  156. 

Seth  and  his  line,  17,  18. 

Seventy  elders  appointed  and  they 
prophesy,  174. 

Sheaf,  "  wave,"  155. 

Shelevi,  peace-offering,  135. 

Shewbread,  156. 

Shoulder,  "heave,"  135. 

Sieges,  rules  in,  222,  223. 

Sihon,  King  of  the  Amorites  in  Hesh- 
bon,  191. 

Silver  trumpets,  171. 

Similitude  of  God,  how  seen  by  Moses, 
176. 

Sin-offering,  its  design  and  ritual,  138  ; 
when  eaten  by  the  priests  and  when 
not,  139  ;  the  blood  when  taken  into 
the  Tabernacle  and  when  not,  138 ; 
when  taken  into  the  holy  of  holies, 
150  ;  ritually  it  preceded  the  burnt- 
offering,  139  ;  historically  it  followed, 
140 ;  occasions  requiring  it,  with 
historical  instances,  140. 


240 


INDEX 


Sinai,  iii  ;  the  locality  where  the  laws 

of  Leviticus  were  delivered,  130. 
Sins  of  ignorance,  138. 
Sojourn  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  duration  of, 

72. 
Song  of  Moses,  analysis  of,  227. 
"  Sons  of  God,"  18. 
Spies,  their  mission,  179 ;  their  report, 

180  ;  their  unfaithfulness,  181. 
Statutes  and  ordinances,  the,  112. 
Strangers  to  be  relieved  out  of  tithe, 

216. 
Succoth,  100. 
Summary  view  of  the  Israelite  religion, 

161. 


Taberah,  173. 

Tabernacle,  the,  its  construction,  116  ; 
typical  meaning,  116;  furniture,  123; 
rules  for  its  removal,  167. 

Tabernacles,  Feast  of,  155,  219. 

Thank-offering,  a  special  peace-offer- 
ing, 137- 

Three  chief  feasts,  217. 

Tithes,  early  instances,  164  ;  annual 
and  triennial,  216. 

Tradition  in  Israel,  a  beneficial,formed, 
209. 

Trespass-offering,  its  design,  140 ; 
allied  to  the  sin-offering,  141 ;  ritual 
of  it,  141  ;  exact  occasions  for  it 
sometimes  difficult  to  discriminate, 
142,  143  ;  its  order  in  the  series,  142; 


first  enjoined,  142  ;  an  historical  in- 
stance, 143  ;  a  Messianic  prophecy 
of  it,  143. 
Trumbull,    Dr.,    his  discoveries,    177, 

188. 
Trumpets,  Feast  of,  155. 
Trumpets,  silver,  171. 

Unity  of  the  national  worship,  214. 
Unleavened  Bread,  Feast  of,  154. 
Urim  and  Thummim,  145. 

Vineyards  open  under  conditions  to 

strangers,  223. 
Visible  gods  in   Canaan,   205  ;   to  be 

avoided  by  Israelites,  205,  206. 

Waggons  in  the  transport  of  Taber- 
nacle, 172,  173,  175, 

Warnings,  162. 

Water  from  rock  at  Kadesh,  185. 

Wave-breast,  135  ;  -sheaf,  155. 

Weeks,  Feast  of,  155. 

Widows  to  be  relieved  out  of  tithes, 
216. 

Wilderness,  the,  as  an  education  to 
Israel,  205  ;  to  be  remembered,  210. 

Wilton,  Rev.  Edward,  author  of 
"Negeb,"  188. 

Zelophehad's  daughters,  201. 
Zin,  wilderness  of,  179. 


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REV.  C.   ERNEST  SMITH. 

The  Old  Church  in  the  New  Land.  Lectures  on 
Church  History.  By  the  Rev.  C.  Ernest  Smith,  M.A., 
Rector  of  the  Church  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels,  Balti- 
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THE   BAMPTON    LECTURES    FOR   1893. 

Inspiration:  Eight  Lectures  on  the  Early  History 
and  Origin  of  the  Doctrine  of  Biblical  Inspiration. 
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Integral  Part  of  the  Christian  Revelation.  By  the  Rev. 
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front  its  unresolved  problems,  and  philosophic  or  logical  objections  that  are  fatal  to 
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THE  BISHOP  PADDOCK  LECTURES,   1892. 

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